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KING COTTON; 



COMMON SENSE THOUGHTS 

ox TIIK FOLLOWlXCi SUIUKCTS, VIZ.: 

f OTTO X VS. SILK: COTTOX vs. LTXEX: 
PAI?AFFIXE vs. WAX; 

15P:IX« a SKIUES OF 

DEMONSTRATED FACTS, SHOWINCi HOW TO MAKE MORE 

FLEXIBLE AND DURABLE SHOE BOTTOAfS liY 

MACHINE THAN B^' HAND. 



HOW i'O ^fAlvE A[ORE E[.ASTIC AND DlTltABr.E SEAMS IN SHOK 
T I'FEBS WITHOUT STAYS THAN HAVE FORMEULV 

BEEN :\rAi>i': with them. 

ILLUSTRATED. 



Bv G 






1 iUL 5 1884") 

\^>.. :2n^ i^ri 



TBESS OF THOS. V. WCUtn}. 

1 S S 4- . 



^ 



/it) . 



^0 nig §alncb ^rirnb, 
.lOSEPIl R. DIMENT, !:>«,».. 

WHO, I.OOKINd STltAIGHT AT FACTS 

WHICH OPPOSED HIS LIFE-IX)X<i PPK.U'HK KS. 

AND WHO, 

AS Sl'Pi;iMMHNDENT OF OXK Ol" THE 

r..\l{<IEST BOOT MANUFACTU1JIN(^ ESTABLISH:\IEN TS IN AMEUICA, 

HAD THE OOl'RAOE OF IMS COXVICTIOXS, 

eTbis bolumc is vcsjjettfulln bcbitatcb bn tbe 

- 1 rriioji. 



Kntei't'd aot'onling ti> Act of Congress, in tlic year l>t84, l)\ 

G. W. I.ASCELL, 

ill tlic OHioe of the Librarian of Oonjiress, at Wasliin.atoii. 



PREFACE 



For the past ten years I have been intending to publish 
my views on the great value of cotton over silk and linen as a 
sewing thread. In 1877, I contributed several articles to the 
" Shoe and Leather Beporter" under the title of Cotton vs. 
Silk, and should have continued them at greater length but 
for my determination to publish a book on this and kindred 
subjects. I have made several beginnings during the past 
five years in the midst of the daily routine of business cares, 
but finding it difticult to get ten consecutive minutes in 
which to write, the matter was deferred until May, 1882, 
when I yielded to the importunities of the editor of " The 
Shoe and Leather Manufacturer " of New York, to furnish 
some articles for his paper. These were copied by foreign 
journals, notably the ''Boot and Shoe Trades Journal" of 
London, which raised a formidable opposition in England 
resulting in a controversy from which I found it impossible 
to recede. This led to an increased correspondence with par- 
ties in various sections, asking for information on these 
matters which nothing short of a complete file of the papers 
in question would seem to suftice — finally all the back num- 
bers having been exhausted I was driven to the necessity of 
compiling this book from my remaining file and in such haste 
as to render it impossible to properly revise the matter, 
hence I am compelled to present to the reader an incoherent 
mass which I had filed simply as memoranda of points to be 



1\ PREFACE 



discussed when a more auspicious time liad arrived. I have 
this consolation however, that time and events have proven 
my premises correct ; that what my critics deemed extreme 
fallacies, have become demonstrated facts, and however in- 
coherently the subjects may be presented, the reader may 
gather from this book a fund of information which it will 
be very imprudent to ignore. 

Since I began the agitation of this question (in LSI')), over 
four hundred shoe manufacturers have adopted the system 
I of seaming shoe uppers, set forth in the following pages. 
i and the glove manufacturers of this country may be sur- 
i prised to learn that the French are now supplying this 
I market with gloxes the seams of which are too elastic to be 

! broken, and stitched with cotton thread which has proven to 

j 

I be at least six times more durable than silk or linen. 

i The more recent agitation of the anti-wax question, and 

j sole sewing with cotton, has awakened a wide-spread inter- 
j est in the matter of making flexible shoe bottoms, since it 
j has been demonstrated that more flexible and durable shoes 
j can be made on the McKay machine than are usually made by 
hand. 

And now that the full fruition of this new and important 
era in shoe making may be more generally and speedily real- 
ized through this feeble instrumentality is the fervent desire 

of the 

AlTHOli. 



CHAPTER I 



COTTOK THREAD BETTER THAN SILK OR LINEN FOR STITCH- 
ING LEATHER. 



There is nothing of more importance in the make up of a 
shoe than the thread by which the parts are united, for if the 
seams give out, the shoes are worthless. It becomes neces- 
sary, then, to inquire which of tlie various kinds of thread 
in use will give the best results, and secondly, how to get it 
into the shoe with the least possible injury. If any shoe 
manufacturer supposes that the thread enters the shoe at its 
pulling strength on the spool, the sooner that he is aroused 
from such a delusion the better it will be for the credit of 
his goods. 

HOW THREAD IS WORN. 

By exact measurement, it is found that the hook of the 
Wheeler & Wilson machine pulls down 4)^ inches of thread, 
and any stitcher will bear me out in the assertion that % of 
an inch is a large average allowance of thread for a single 
stitch to take up. Now as there are 36 eighths in 4)^ inches, 
it necessarily follows that the 4>^ inches of thread passes 
downward 36 times, and the " take-up " jerks it upward 36 
times, which altogether makes exactly 72 times that the 
thread passes through the needle before the stitch is planted 
in the leather. This being true, is it any wonder that seams 
fail? But we hear the objector say : 

" That can't be true, for the needle goes down but once to 
form a stitch and the ' take up ' pulls the thread up, which 
makes it pass through the needle only twice to complete a 
stitch." 



HOW THREAD IS WORN. 



We o-rant all that as being true as to the first stitch, but the 
second stitch has taken the thread tlirough four times, and 
the third stitch six times, and the fourth stitch eight times, 
and the fifth stitcli ten times, and so on to the end of the 
original i}^ inches pulled down to form the first stitch, when 
the last eighth shall have passed through the needle just 72 
times, and from that on to the end of the spool, every identical 
eighth inch of thread must pass not only through the needle 
but through the tension and the various thread guides leading 
to the needle, and last but not least through the leather also ; 
and tlie wonder is that there is any strength to the thread 
left. Hence it is that the smoothest and best made needle is 
by far the cheapest, and the time is prol)ably not far distant 
when the inquiry, "Who maizes the best needle?" will 
become general, and the hazardous policy abandoned of 
adopting the needle that can be had for the least mone3\ 

Having submitted these matters to Mr. James E. A. Gibbs, 
of the Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company, the oldest 
sewing machine inventor now living, he replied as follows : 

"You are quite right in these matters. The fact is, the 
needle does all the sewing, anyway ; give me a good needle 
and I will do good sewing, with almost any sewing machine." 

Every stitcher will notice that when commencing a seam 
the stitch looks smooth and satisfactory, but after progress- 
ing an inch or two the stitch presents quite a difterent ap- 
pearance. This is because the thread is but little worn at 
the start, as above stated, and were it not for bad places 
made by stopping and starting in again, it would be much 
better for the shoe to break the thread and start anew at the 
end of every inch and a half of seam. Now, as the wearing 
of the thread in sewing (as well as in the finished seam) is so 
great, it is of vital importance to know vihat kind of thread is 
the most durable ; in other words, which of all the fibrous 
substances of which threads are made, will stand the greatest 
amount of friction. I stated Ave years ago (only to be 
laughed at) that this fibre was Cotton. I well knew the 



PRACTICAL TESTS, AND REASONS WHY COTTON IS BEST. 3 

effect likely to be produced by such radical ideas, and did not 
venture to announce them without having fully tested the 
truth of the statements made. My investigations at that 
time had extended over a period of two years or more, and 
several pairs of shoes had been made and worn out, one of 
each pair being seamed on a Howe machine with silk (upper 
and under threads) and the other on a Willcox & Gibbs Auto- 
matic Tension machine with a single cotton thread. In each 
case the shoes stitched with cotton stood the test of wearing 
out both sole and upper, while those closed with silk failed 
in from five to ten weeks. The exhibition of these test 
shoes accompanied by their history as to day and date, etc., 
led one after another to investigate and make similar tests, 
until now in this year, 1882, there is scarcely to be found a 
shoe manufacturer in Essex County, Mass., who would dare 
risk the old method as against what has proven to be the 
only true and safe one, viz. : seaming with cotton thread. 
The use of cotton thread is by no means conlined to Essex 
County, but has spread throughout the State of Massachu- 
setts, and extended to Maine, New Hampshire, New York, 
Ohio and Minnesota, and the shoe manufacturers who have 
adopted the views set forth above are now numbered by 
hundreds, as ere long they must be by thousands. 

One reason of the greater durability of seams made with 
cotton, lies in the fact that the thread is planted in the shoe 
comparatively uninjured. The second reason is that the 
twisted loop-stitch is so elastic that no elasticity of thread is 
required, although there is more elasticity in cotton than in 
linen, but not so much as in silk. Of course, these radical 
ideas did not take root everywhere at once, many being too 
timid to abandon the old method for the new, but gradually 
they were compelled to acknowledge that "Cotton was 
King," and thus it has been that what at lirst was considered 
absolutely foolish by many, lias been generally — indeed, al- 
most universally — accepted in this section of country ; and 
it is a remarkable fact that not a single manufacturer can be 



ERRORS OF JUDGMENT. 



found who, having adopted the new method, has abandoned 
it for the old or any other way of making durable seams. A 
stronger confirmation than this, of the truth of these state- 
ments concerning the superiority of cotton in seaming, could 
not well be produced. 

The above is but a mere outline or summary of facts which 
have been developed during the past five or six years. Pre- 
vious to that time, very little attention was paid to the man- 
ufacture of cotton threads for shoe work. About the only 
cotton then known to the trade was a cheap grade, used and 
sold as "bobbin cotton," which was also used in making 
shoe linings. The agitation of this question, however, has 
been the means of bringing out an article of cotton which is 
but little (and some makes of thread are not at all) inferior 
in finish and tensile strength to silk. 

Shoe manufacturers will invariably judge of the durability 
of thread by the number of pounds strain it will bear, and 
hence they jump at the erroneous conclusion that silk or linen 
is superior to cotton, while the fact remains that the num- 
ber of pounds a thread will pull has no more to do with the 
durability of a seam stitched with it than mathematics has to 
to do with the growth of a plant. The test of thread in a 
shoe is the amount of friction it will endure by the constant 
bending of the seam, as at the ball of the foot in a congress 
boot, or at the top of the stiffening at the heel and in the 
crimp in front. It is found that at these points the stitches 
break ; or in other words, they wear in two by the constant- 
rubbing or friction at every step. This constant bending 
often causes the leather to break in the wrinkle formed at 
the ball of the foot on the outside, and it is hardly to be 
wondered at that the thread will wear in two in less time, 
although in one of the tests first above mentioned, the break 
of the leather and one stitch in the wrinkle at the ball was 
simultaneous. 

As to the durability of cotton in comparison with linen, we 
speak from daily use of the latter in grinding the hooks of 



GRINDING TESTS. 



our McKay and wax thread machine needles. These hooks 
are cut before the needles are tempered, and after tempering 
comes the smoothing process, or the grinding off of the sharp 
cornets of the tempered steel. To accomplish this, the nee- 
dle is held in a clamp, as shown in the accompanying sketch, 




SHOWING ONE METHOD OF TESTING 
THREAD. 



COTTON AND LINEN 



and a thread (the size of the one the needle is intended to 
carry) is saturated with oil and emery, and drawn rapidly 
back and forth through the liook until the sharp corners are 
worn off smooth. By the process described, the thread is 
worn in two very soon, when more is drawn from the spool 
and again and again it is worn out, and on an average three 
or four threads are worn out in finishing one needle. We 
had a cotton thread made of the same size to do this work, 



TRUE BASIS OF JUDGMENT. 



prepariiiii- it in tlie same way, and fonnd tliat we could flnisli 
a needle completely with one thread, and yet the thread re- 
main whole, though reduced in size by wear. This reduction 
in the size of the thread tended to make the hook narrow and 
V-shaped in the bottom, whereas it should be the reverse. 
We were forced, in consequence, to abandon the cotton and 
go back to the linen, because of its brashy nature, which 
caused it to broom up in wearing and enlarge to three times 
its original size. This made the linen more valuable for this 
purpose, although not as durable by at least two-thirds. As 
an illustration of the superior wearing qualities of cotton 
over linen, it is hard to conceive of a better test than the 
above, while at the same time it tends to establish the fact 
previously stated, that the number of pounds a thread will 
pull has nothing whatever to do in determining the compara- 
tive durability of a seam closed with it. 

If I were ottered several brands of linen, I should say that 
the strongest was the best, and of one cotton thread as com- 
pared with another, should conclude^ that the strongest con- 
tained the best ({uality of cotton and the longest fibre, and 
should say the same as to silk; but ])ecause a silk or linen 
will pull more pounds than a cotton thread, to conclude that 
it is therefore as much more durable as it is stronger, is 
extremely fallacious, as any one can easily demonstrate by 
experiments. 

THE PULLING TEST. 

Apropos to the foregoing, it may not come amiss to ask 
and answer a few pertinent inquiries. First, then, what is 
the use of the pulling test, except to ascertain which of any 
two or more ))rands of any one kintl of thread — viz. : cotton, 
silk or linen^is superior? 

We answer, none whate>er, since in either kind you have 
more actual pulling strength than can by any possi])ility be 
approi)riated by the wearer of the shoe, as a few figures will 
demonstrate. 



FACTS AND FIGURES. 



Suppose your silk pnlls 10 pounds, and you put 20 stitches 
to the inch of your seam. That would s^ive on a congress 
boot (say 10 inches length of seam) just 2,000 pounds' 
strength of thread to hold one side of the boot to the other, 
because you have 10 pounds' pulling strength to each and 
every stitch. Now, we have before stated that the best cot- 
ton thread of to-day will pull very nearly as much as silk. 
But we will suppose it to be only half as strong ; that would 
give 1,000 pounds to hold one half the upper to the other, 
which is at the least six times the strength required. A 
woman that weighs 175 pounds, bearing her whole weiglit on 
one foot, does not produce 175 pounds lateral strain on the 
upper, nor any considerable portion of it, for the reason that 
the main pressure comes directly on the sole, which is being- 
pressed hard to the ground, and there is the lateral strain on 
the sole also. Now, when this downward pressure on the 
bottom and the lateral strain on the sole is deducted (if 
the truth of the matter could be accurately figured out), it 
Avould be found that but a small residue remains to apply to 
the upper, and that would always be within the limit of en- 
durance of the wearer, as a large majority of people have 
tender feet, while the soundest feet could not stand two- 
sixths of the pressure the poorest cotton would give. 

When an iron stretcher is put into a shoe to enlarge it by 
stretching it across the ball, the superficial observer could 
hardly fail of noticing the immense pressure that is produced 
by the leverage of the screw thus applied. It has often been 
a matter of surprise that the seam or even the leather could 
withstand it, though unlike the foot, the stretcher puts at 
least two-thirds of the strain directly on the upper, as the 
leather impinges tightly upon the iron, both on the sides and 
top, tlie bottom only taking its share of the lateral strain 
minus any downward pressure as given by the wearer of the 
shoe. This simple matter proves our assertion that the 
strength of thread in a seam is the number of pounds the 
thread will pull multiplied by the number of stitches to the 



WASTEFUL FOLLY. 



inch, and this shonlcl also show the folly of paying the cost 
of a ten-pound silk (since but so small a fraction of its 
strength can ever be appropriated), as against the much bet- 
ter as well as cheaper cotton thread, the pulling strength of 
which is so many times greater than there is any need of. 

When manufacturers learn that the most durable thread 
for either shoes, gloves or clothing is that which will endure 
the most friction, regardless of its comparative tensile 
strength, they will have taken a very important step in a 
pecuniary point of view, and one they will have frequent 
occasion to regret not having taken much earlier. 






CHAPTER II. 

HOW TO MAKE A " McKAY SEWED BOTTOM" MORE 
DURABLE AND FLEXIBLE THAN HAND-MADE. 



COTTON THREAD VS. LINEN — WAX USELESS. 

In the elucidation of this subject, it becomes necessary, 
in the first place, to establish the superiority of cotton thread 
for this purpose, and secondly to show up the uses and 
abuses of wax, as well as to give good and valid reasons for 
abandoning it entirely and substituting a much better mate- 
rial ; aiid further, to consider matters incidental to all that 
goes to make a more flexible and durable shoe bottom. It 
is a notorious fact that when a shoe is taken from the horn 
of a McKay machine, it is stiffer than a pegged bottom con- 
taining the same number of pegs, as the shoe has stitches, 
(say three or four to the inch), and it is proposed, further 
along, to give the reasons why this is so. 

First, then, as to cotton thread for shoe bottoms. In the 
preceding chapter it was shown that a cotton thread would 
stand three or four times as much chafing in grinding nee- 
dles as a linen thread of the same size, and it is reasonable to 
conclude that the same would be true as to the chafing of a 
stitch in a shoe sole, for this is what wears the thread in two 
and separates the sole from the upper, and in many cases, 
before the shoe is half worn out. 

THE GOODYEAR TEST. 

Some two years ago we furnished Mr. Goodyear (the in- 
ventor of the Goodyear welt and turn shoe machines) with 
some cotton thread with which to make the writer a pair of 



10 



A CRUCIAL TEST. 



test shoes, according to certain specific directions — the expla- 
nation of which seemed to interest Mr. Goodyear, who or- 
dered test shoes, made in like manner, for himself and sons. 
Becoming restive, however, and impatient for results, Mr. 
Goodyear concluded to try an experiment. The cotton we 
furnished was quite too small for shoe bottoms, but as it 
was the largest we had, and the same size as Barbour's four- 
cord linen thread, Mr. Goodyear procured some of the latter ; 
and, holding a piece between the thumb and finger nails of 
each hand, as shown by the accompanying sketch, commenc- 




FiG. 2. 



ed to chafe the thread in two by moving his hand rapidly to 
and fro, and succeeded in parting the last strand at the expi- 
ration of fifteen minutes. He then took the cotton thread of 
the same size, and holding it in the same manner, commenced 
his labors again. He worked at it until (as he said) his arms 
ached up to his shoulders, and, finding that he had worked 
ONE HOUR AND A HALF icUhout breaking a single strand, 
ceased any further eft'ort in that direction, as the test was not 
only conclusive, but more' than made good everj^ statement I 
had made relative to the superiority of cotton. 



PERFECT EQUALITY ASSURED. 11 

Thinking, however, that perhaps the experiment wliicli 
has just been described was not exactly equivalent to the 
conditions and action of the soles of a shoe upon tlie tln^ead, 
he devised a test which, in effect, would be nearly, if not 
quite, identical with the wear of tln*ead in a shoe in active 
service. He prepared two blocks of hard wood with planed 
surfaces and of equal dimensions, and bored a series of 
lioles in parallel rows transversely througli both, and tlien 
sewed linen thread through both from the end to tlie centre 
of the block, and cotton thread of same size from the centre 
to the opposite end. He then secured one block in a vise, as 
shown by the accompanying sketch, and grasping the other 




with his hand, pushed it back and fortli as far as the stitches 
would allow. The time was not taken in this experiment, as 
both threads were being acted upon simultaneously and 
under precisely the same conditions, although, according to 
his judgment, he had worked about half an liour, when every 



12 THE USELESSNESS OF WAX. 

linen thread stitch had worn in two and every cotton thread 
stitch remained whole. These tests quieted Mr. Goodyear's 
anxiety as to the results to be obtained from the test shoes 
then being made. The shoe tests were unequal however, in 
this, that the linen thread used was Finlayson's best eight- 
cord, wliile the cotton thread was only the size of Barbour's 
four-cord McKay thread, and the same needle was used in 
sewing the small cotton as the large linen thread. The sew- 
ing never gave out in either, the slioes both lasting exceed- 
ingly well, wearing out the soles and a pair of taps. 

Having now furnished the key by which any one interested 
in the subject can demonstrate the truth of the foregoing 
statements for himself, relative to the superiority of cotton 
as compared with linen tliread for shoe bottoms, or, in fact, 
for anything in the way of seaming, we will pass on to con- 
sider the 

USE or WAX. 

In this, as in very many things, too much is taken for 
granted, and the subject is allowed to pass unchallenged. 

The liabit of wrong thinking upon any given topic (or of 
no thinking) tends to close all avenues of thouglit in the di- 
rection of improvement, and as a result business is done at 
such a loss that if the same percentage was imposed in the 
form of a tax by tlie government it would be deemed an in- 
supportable burden which would soon terminate in, armed 
rebellion. 

It is altogetlier probable that no shoe manufacturer ever 
stopped to consider whether wax was of any real use or not, 
as it is universally conceded to be indispensable and has been 
so considered for centuries past. We undertake to say, 
however, that wax, as used in sole sewing with the McKay 
machine (for it is that specialty that we are now dealing 
with), is not only useless, but ahsolntehj detrimental to the 
shoe. It is that which makes the bottom so stiff and inflexi- 
ble, and that very stiffness leads the stitcher to pride himself 



A merchant's discovery. 13 

on the solidity ( ?) of his work. He takes the shoe from the 
horn, bends it; it feels solid (stiff), and he says "that's 
business," and we say yes, had business. 

If we ask him why he uses wax, he says "to make tlie 
thread hold, of course." 

Now we say that you may pick up an old shoe sewed on 
the McKay machine, one that has been worn down to the 
bottom of the channel, to the extent of wearing off the tops 
of the stitches, and you Mall find the thread as dry and desti- 
tute of wax as it v^^as when it left the thread mill. It is but 
recently that a merchant came to Lynn to see one of our best 
shoe manufacturers in order to give him a lecture, he having 
discovered the secret of the ripping of their slioes, as he sup- 
posed. He brought substantial proof of his theory in his 
pocket, which he pulled out and said : 

"Now, Mr. B., I came to complain of your shoes ripping 
and to tell you the reason of it. You seio your shoes without 
any wax. Here is one of them and you can see for yourself 
there was never any wax on that thread." 

Mr. B. was not a little amused, and he soon satistied his 
customer that their goods were not only sewed with as much 
wax as the thread would carry, but that there was much to 
be learned yet, not dreamed of in his philosophy. 

Now, if wax is of any use in a McKay sewed shoe bottom 
it is " to hold tlie thread" from slipping out after the loops 
are vjorn off; before that there is certainly no need of any, 
and if after the stitches are worn off tliere is no wax left on 
the thread, then we woulcl like to have some one inform us 
why its use is continued. 

It is not until a shoe has been worn some weeks and tlie 
dry and thirsty sole leather (if we may be allowed the ex- 
pression) has absorbed all the oil from the wax, leaving the 
resin to crumble to atoms, that a bottom becomes easy to 
any considerable degree, and just in proportion as the wax 
becomes disintegrated, does the bottom become flexible. So 



14 WHY WAX IS DETRIMENTAL. 

long, however, as the wax remains wax, you ha,ve a more 
rigid bottom than if pegged or nailed. The reason for this 
is that the wax sticks the two arms of the loops to each 
other, and, if they would yield up their elasticity, the thread 
must move in opposite directions ; it also sticks the loops to 
the channel, to the leather in the needle hole, and on the sur- 
face of the inner sole ; in fact, all around, the thread is fixed 
innnovable by the wax, and thus the stitches become more 
rigid than so many rivets, because a rivet would stand by it- 
self independently, while the stitches are like so many rivets 
tied to each other at both ends as by a strap of metal connect- 
ing them. Hence, the rigidity of the McKay sewed bottom, 
all of which can much better be avoided than continued, as 
will be shown further on. 

We state, without fear of successful contradiction, that 
wax is an intolera))le nuisance besides being devoid of a sin- 
gle redeeming quality, so far as its use in sole sewing is con- 
cerned, and the reasons are, first, that it so clogs the thread 
as to render it impossible (even with all the tension the thread 
will endure) to draw in the stitches so as to get the soles to- 
gether with sufficient firmness to prevent them from working 
and cutting oft' the stitches directly between them. One 
reason why this cannot be done is owing to the peculiar for- 
mation of the loop-stitch. The stitch being taken, tight- 
ening up the stitch next preceding, and the thread having 
been drawn up and held above the shoe, and at the time com- 
pletely cut oft' from the heat in the horn, the wax becomes 
more or less chiTled, and when the hook descends and takes 
up another loop, all this two or more inches of chilled thread 
is carrietl down" and completely around the leather between 
the needle holes by the stitch next in process of formation. 
This back-handed manner of forming the stitch, or rather, 
of drawing it in, requires the entire pulling strength of the 
thread, be it seveuty, eighty, or even a hundred pounds, ac- 
cording to the thickness of the soles ; and even then, not- 
withstanding the sewing feels stift' and solid, the fact 



FOUR MORE REASONS WHY. 15 

remains that the stitches are not drawn in sufficiently tight 
to bring- the soles as snug together as necessary to keep them 
from working and cutting off the stitches in the manner so 
commonly seen in McKay sewed work, Wlien the oil of the 
wax becomes absorbed, and the resin lias crumbled off, leav- 
ing the thread dry, you can pull the upper up from the sole 
and see a space that should not exist, and a slackness of 
thread, due to the sluggish movement of the thread in draw- 
ing in the stitches, and all on account of the wax. 

The second objection to wax is that it tends to rot the 
thread. This fact is so common to all shoemakers who have 
ever worked on the seat as to hardly need argument to sup- 
port it. How common it is to see nails full of "waxed 
ends " in a cobbler's shop, and it is as common to find the 
strength nearly gone from them after hanging over night. 
McKay operators have also noticed the rapid deterioration of 
the thread, especially the outer tiers on the spool, after lay- 
ing from five to ten hours. 

The third objection is the liability of burning the thread in 
passing it through the vat as well as by the blaze in the 
horn. Thread is passed through boiling wax, with a .con- 
stant blaze under the vat, and nothing whatever to indicate 
the degrees of heat it is thus subjected to ; and when the 
thread is transferred to the machine, it is subjected to an- 
other burning in the horn by a constant blaze in close prox- 
imity to it. These very probable injuries to the thread are 
incidental to the use of wax, it being necessary not only to 
keep the wax hot on the thread, but so hot that it will in 
some degree hold its heat during the time it is held above 
the shoe and cut off from the heat in the horn. It is impos- 
sible, however, to keep the M^ax hot enough. 

The fourth objection is that w^ax besmears the shoe and 
the shop, as well as the reputation of the manufacturer, and 
supplies a wax plaster to the feet of all, indiscriminately, 
and in total disregard of the patient's desire or condition. 

Fifth, it besmears and clogs the needle, causing it to run 



16 FALSE PRETENCES. 



hard, and this, together with the power required to haul in 
the waxed thread, involves fifty per cent, extra waste of 
needles ; and when we contemplate the great inconvenience, 
the waste of time and gas, and the damage to manufacturers 
as well as to merchants and consumers, it does seem as if the 
powers that be had conspired to psychologize shoe manu- 
facturers, in order to preserve the old notion that wax is an 
absolute necessity; and also to keep them oblivious to a 
thought of reform in that direction, although its use is 
needless and wasteful; needless, because it does not serve 
to hold the thread in the manner alleged. After the loops 
are worn off, the thread is never seen to be pulling out. No 
one ever thought of making such a complaint or suggestion 
any more than they would tliink of suggesting wax for shoe 
pegs for the purpose of keeping them in place. Pegs always 
liold w^ell, and yet they are made of seasoned maple w^ood 
and driven dry, and worn in wet and dry weather, with the 
timber shrinking and swelling, and yet they stay in their 
places. Yet it would seem that of the two, pegs needed wax 
more than thread, not only because of their tendency to get 
loose by shrinkage, but because they are short, extending 
from the outside to the inside surfaces only, with no contin- 
uous doubling back and forth like a stitched thread. 

Again, Avax is entirely superfluous in liolding a McKay 
stitched bottom, for the reason that the stitches wear off only 
in spots. It is not one time in ten thousand that a shoe sole 
is worn so square and level as to wear the stitches off all 
along the sides from shank to toe simultaneously, if, indeed, 
such a thing was ever known to occur. You will generally 
see a space of an inch at the ball outside or inside, and either 
side of tlie gap the stitches not being worn off, hold inde- 
pendent of wax, and at either side of the space the thread 
lias too far to travel (in tlie loop stitch) to work itself out 
so as to enlarge the gap. 

Whatever tendency you might imagine existed for so 
working out, you will find, nevertheless, that the stitches 



A SUBSTITUTE FOR WAX. 17 



stand in place like so many pegs awaiting their release by 
the cobbler. What folly then, to look in that direction for 
tlie difRcnlty, when it is always found heticeen the sole and 
the upper J and that is where the average idiot might know 
that wax was useless. 

Having pointed out the utter uselessness of wax in a 
McKay sewed shoe bottom, as well as the damage to the 
shoes, we now propose a substitute ; not an untried and un- 
certain theory, but s, positive, effectual remedy for the whole 
train of evils resulting from the use of wax. This substitute 
has been already tried and proven, and it solves the problem 
of flexibility, as well as durability, of shoe bottoms. 
Although it is very simple, yet in results it stands next in 
importance to the sole sewing machine itself. The combina- 
tion is : First, Cotton thread of suitable size, with a light 
dressing of paraffine in which has been mixed a small per- 
centage of beeswax. It is essential to lubricate the thread, 
and lay the fibre ; and if you can lubricate and at the same 
time stifi'en the thread so as to make it controllable in stitch- 
ing, you will have accomplished your purpose, having done 
all that is needful to make a more durable and flexible bot- 
tom than hand made. 

Eight here the old habit of thought comes in and suggests 
that " cotton is not near as strong as linen," while the fact re- 
mains that there is but very little difference, but practically 
there might be half difference, and then your cotton pos- 
sesses twenty times more strength than can by any possibility 
be appropriated in holding the sole on to a shoe. An atmos- 
pheric pressure equal to the strength of one single stitch 
(equally distributed over the surface) would be twice as 
much as would be needed to hold the sole on to a shoe. 
Suppose your linen thread pulls seventy-five pounds, and you 
have four stitches to the inch, you then have three hundred 
pounds to the inch, and say twelve inches around the shoe 
would give three thousand and six hundred pounds of 
strength to hold the outer sole to the inner sole ! ! Oh ! the 



18 A MYSTERY SOLVED. 

poverty of the English language to adequately express the 
■ consummate folly of placing such stress upon the idea that the 
tpu.nle strength is of any importance other than that of pull- 
ing in the stitches, and wlien the thread is lubricated, instead 
of waxed, it requires much less tension to bring- the soles 
solidly together. 

As stated at the commencement of this chapter, we have 
made and worn out a pair of shoes, one of which was stitched 
with cotton lubricated with tallow, with about twenty-five 
per cent, of beeswax melted in with it to stiffen the thread 
sufficiently to cause the loop to stand up like a waxed thread. 
The size of the cotton used in one shoe was that of a four- 
cord Barbour linen thread. The other shoe, of the same 
pair, was stitched with eight-cord Finlayson linen thread and 
Avaxed. Mr. Goodyear retained the shoes in his ofHce until 
they were thoroughly seasoned, when he discovered some- 
thing about the cotton-stitched shoe so inexplicable that he 
brought the pair to our office for the purpose, as he said, to 
get an explanation of the mystery. Said he : 

"Your shoe was stitched, as you directed, with much 
less tension than we put upon its mate, which was stitched 
with waxed thread, and I discovered that with that com- 
paratively weak tension your shoe is solid, showing no 
seam or crack between the welt and sole, while the other 
shoe does show a crack and is not as solid. I do n't under- 
stand this. Can you explain it?" 

We answered that we could, and in this way. Trace the 
movement of the thread in the formation of the loop stitch, 
and you find that you pull in the stitch to a very great dis- 
advantage (as previously stated), and owing to the thread 
}:)eing encumbered with wax it would not be possible with 
all the strain the thread or needle would stand to draw the 
stitcli home with the force necessary to thoroughly tighten 
the stitch back of the one being formed ; wliereas in the 
other case, the thread being lubricated and running with 
such freedom, the stitches were tightened even to the third 



PARAFFINE VS. OTHER LUBRICANTS. 19 

stitcli back, and this is the secret of the whole matter of 
solid stitching. Half the tension required for a waxed 
thread is all sufficient to draw the sole and welt together so 
flrmly that there is no seam or crack visible after the sole 
has seasoned. 

As to the test, the writer wore those shoes to tapping, and 
had them tapped and worn until two pairs of taps were worn 
out, and from the end of taps to breast of heel both shoes 
are sound to-day. This speaks volumes in favor of the 
Goodyear welt machines in contrast with the McKay, under 
tlie p.revailing method of loading the thread with wax. 

Previous to the test just referred to, the writer had sev- 
eral test pairs stitched with cotton on a McKay machine. In 
the first pair we soaked the thread in linseed oil (boiled), 
squeezing it as dry as possible before using it. In the sec- 
ond test pair the thread w^as immersed in melted tallow and 
squeezed dry in like manner. The soles of both wore com- 
pletely out, showing no signs of ripping, and were extremely 
flexible and easy. Tlie use of eitlier oil or tallow is not prac- 
tical, for the reason that when the tln-ead is cast oflr'tlie hook, 
the loop crinkles down, and too much care is required to 
make the needle strike within the loop, but tlie paraffine stiff- 
ens the thread about the same as wax, and stitching can be 
done with equal rapidity, and besides this, no heat is required 
in the horn, and the stitching can be done in any cold corner 
of the shop, or before an open window with mercury at zero, 
if need be, and when done the stitching is clean and white. 
In ordinary work we would recommend a smaller thread and 
needle and more stitches to the inch. The thread not larger 
than Barbour's five-cord linen, and the Lascell patent V- 
shaped large liook needle. No. 7. 

One of the heaviest retail houses in Lynn, and a concern 
that makes its own goods (excepting pegged work and rub- 
bers), using one McKay ^nachine and making liand work 
also, has put out over two thousand pairs since last Novem- 
ber (1881), bottomed in this manner, and the result has been 



20 TWO THOUSAND PRACTICAL TESTS. 

all that could be desired. Not a bottom of any description 
has failed in the slightest degree, and not a customer has 
known aught of the process, and at the same time many have 
spoken of the unusually easy wearing bottoms. 

This concern has now fully adopted the new method, hav- 
ing discarded wax and heat in the horn. In all these tests 
they have never used anything larger, nor any other than the 
thread described above as having been used in the Goodyear 
tests. This thread is not larger than Barbour's four-cord 
McKay thread, and the test goods put out have comprised 
every variety and size of men's, women's and children's 
boots and shoes. On one pair of heavy calf boots made last 
November, there is now the third pair of taps recently put 
on, and from breast of heels to end of taps the original lubri- 
cated cotton sewing is as solid as when first taken from the 
horn. It is putting it very mild to say that this firm are ex- 
tremely happy in " its find," and they will doubtless reap a 
good harvest ere their neighbors will have awakened to the 
importance of this matter, which is as certain to become 
universal as that shoes are to be made. " Truth is mighty 
and must prevail " and the judicious exercise of a little com- 
mon sense will aid the development of the facts herein set 
forth, to the great benefit of all concerned. 







CHAPTER III. 

HOW TO STITCH A SHOE BOTTOM. 



Pursuing the subject of how to make a McKay sewed bot- 
tom more durable and ilexible than hand-made, it becomes 
necessary to notice tlie matter of stitching which enters 
largely into the account. 

Some have contended (and Mr. Gordon McKay among the 
number, if we are correctly informed), that the best results 
were obtained by the use of a large needle in sole sewing, 
while ninety-nine out of every hundred men would say that 
the reverse of that should be the truth, as indeed it is. Mr. 
McKay was anxiously observing and solicitous about obtain- 
ing the best results as to the product of the machine in 
which he held so gi'eat an interest, and he had doubtless dis- 
covered that those Avho used the largest needle (in propor- 
tion to the size of thread used) , had the least trouble from 
the ripping bfl' of the soles. This arose, however, from the 
fact that the larger the hole made by the needle the less was 
the resistance to the thread in drawing in the stitches. Con- 
sequently, this large hole became an important factor, as the 
thread was always coated with black wax and needed all the 
room it could have, and the more the better, until you ex- 
ceeded the limit of endurance of the upper and sole leather. 
For example, a tive-cord thread following a No. 83^ needle, 
would pull in with so much less friction than an eight-cord, 
that the soles would be drawn together more firmly with the 
former, and as a consequence there would be less working of 
the soles, and the stitches would stand longer than with the 
eight-cord thread not so well drawn in, for it would be im- 
possible to produce as snug a lit of the outsole to the insole 



22 MAKING A VIRTUE OUT OF A NECESSITY. 

with the large as with the small thread iu the same sized 
liole, notwithstanding the large thread would stand nearly 
twice the tension that the small one would do. Had it 
always been the fashion, however to use liquefied w^ax, Mr. 
McKay and others could never have made the discovery that 
a lai'ge needle would produce better work than a small one, 
as the liquid wax would have acted as a hihricant, and the 
hici thread would have been drawn into a small hole, and the 
desired results would have been the general rule rather than 
the rare exception as now. 

Nothing could well be more inconsistent with truth or con- 
trary to common sense than the idea that a small thread, 
drawn into a large hole, would hold better than a large thread 
drawn into a small hole ; but the solution of the wax ques- 
tion dissolves the paradoxical notion advanced by Mr. McKay 
and echoed by others ; and had Mr. Blake, the inventor of 
the McKay machine, studied the anti-wax question in connec- 
tion with his important invention, he w^ould not have found 
it so necessary to make so great a virtue out of so dire a ne- 
cessity as the use of wax seemed to involve. 

Stitching a shoe, after it had been formed and taken from 
the last, necessitated the use of the loop-stitch and a hook for 
a needle. It was also supposed to • be necessary to use as 
large or larger thread than in hand sewing, and, as a conse- 
quence, a piece of steel wire, many times larger than the 
thread, had to be used, in order to admit of its being cut into 
far enough to form a hook of sufficient size to carry the 
thread (see Figs. 4 and 5) , and at the same time leaving suf- 
hcient strength back of the hook to withstand the strain of 
tlrawing in the stitch, as well as that of puncturing the sole, 
Avhich double office the needle was required to perform. 
This needle made such an enormous hole, as compared with 
the size of the largest thread it could carry, that it liecame 
necessary to make stitches about one-third of an inch long, 
to prevent the leather from being entirely cut away by the 
needle ; and it does not require any considerable stretch of 



THE OLD AND THE NEW CONTRASTED. 



23 



the imagination to conceive tlie great repugnance sucli a con- 
trivance must liave met at tlie liands of tlie craft, to wliom 
the machine was iirst oflfered for sale, on account of tlie 
seeming great disparity l)etween its work and that of hand- 
sewing ; to wit, three stitches to the inch in place of six to 




Fig. 4. 



Fig. 



ENLARGED VIEW OF LASCELL'S PERFECTED NEEDLE IN CON- 
TRAST WITH THE OLD STYLE ROUND BLADE. 



twenty, a crow-bar of a needle in place of an awl about half 
as large as the thread. The writer remembers seeing Mr. 
Blake operating his first machine in an attic on Park Row, 
New York, stitching for three or four lasters, and as many 
finishers working on the seat. The Rebellion had broken out, 
creating an unusual demand for shoes, which brought the 
Blake machine rapidly forward, and caused its faults to be 
winked at for the time. The enormous difference between the 
cost of bottoming a shoe in that way as compared to any other 
known method, brought it rapidly into notice, and not only 



24 MILLIONS NEEDLESSLY WASTED. 

cominauded the atteution of eveiT shoe manufacturer of anj'^ 
uote in the country; but it forced them to learn that its work 
was far less objectionable than they at first supposed. Now, 
however, after twenty odd years' vigorous use of it, I think 
I know what I am about to say when I add that from Mr. 
Blake down to the most humble consumer of shoes made on 
his machine, more millions of dollars have been wasted than 
all the royalties paid for the use of it have amounted to. If 
the facts now being brought out with reference to this one 
item of stitching can be pressed upon the attention of shoe 
manufacturers, they will not be slow in seeking to remedy 
the wasteful habits of the past twenty years, which are con- 
tinued down to this present moment. 

It may be asked in what does this great waste consist? 
We answer that first and foremost it consists in the deterio- 
ration of the shoes made, owing to the liability of the soles 
coming oft' prematurely and in many cases before the stock is 
half worn out, for it must be borne in mind that every grade 
of stock, from the highest priced to the lowest, is bottomed 
on the McKay machine. The average diflerence between the 
durability of McKay machine work as compared with good 
hand stitching would amount in and of itself to a sum bor- 
dering closely on to, if not far exceeding, all the royalties 
paid. It must be kept in mind also that the new process 
makes a more durable bottom than hand stitched (judging 
from the experience of the writer in wearing both as tests) ; 
and all this difference in value is borne bj-- and distributed be- 
tween the manufacturer, consume'r and merchant, in the 
order named. 

The second consideration is the damage fo the upper 
leather by the thrust of such a monster needle with its broad 
hook cover A (again see Fig. .5) projecting above the barb, 
carrving away such a quantity of stock and causing it to 
protrude on the surface of the inner sole, rendering it rough 
and difficult to make smooth again by the most powerful of 
beating-out machines. 



NO HEAT IN THE HORN. 25 

The third consideration is the extra waste of thread and 
consumption of needles. 

The f ourtli is the expense of maintaining lieat in tlie liorn 
and extra lieat in the room, in order to stitcli well, besides 
numerous minor considerations, all of which are done away 
with by the new process. Now if we sum up the whole, 
and add the waste of time solely attributable to the use of 
wax, who can say with truth that these do not in the aggre- 
gate far exceed all the royalties ever paid for the use of the 
McKay machine, and which have amounted to many millions 
of dollars? 

The one great drawback to the McKay machine is the ne- 
cessity of using such an enormous needle as compared with 
the size of the biggest thread it can carry. Now a No. 8 
needle is smaller than the average size used. (The size most 
in use is the 8)^.) We here illustrate a No. 8 needle. Fig. 0, 



Fig. 6 

represents an ordinary mckay needle full size, and 
thread full size used with this needle. 

full size, as well as the largest thread it will carry, viz. : six- 
cord. No. 16. This is also represented full size. Now the 
needle's full capacity is governed by the inside measurement 
of the HOOK ; and on looking through the hook it will be seen 
that there is a vast difterence between its inside area, as 
compared with the outside diameter of the blade of needle 
just above it. Now, although the difterence is seen to be 
great, it will no doubt astonish every stitcher in the land to 
know that a round hole drilled through a block of steel that 
will just admit a No. 8 needle will take in twelve just such 
No. 16 six-corded threads! ! (See Fig. 7.) The thread there- 

4 



26 



ASTOUNDING REVELATION. 




Fig. 7. 

showing twelve threads of the size shown in fig. 6, 
drawn through a hole in a steel gauge of the 
exact size of a no. 8 mckay needle. 



fore used in a No. 8 needle, when drawn in do2(ble, only fills 
one-sixth of the hole. The writer was not prepared for anj'- 
such results as this, but w'as quite confident that six threads 
would g-o through oar No. 33 awl gauge, which is a solid, 
hardened steel block, half an inch thick. We cut oft' six 
pieces of No. 16 six-cord, each a half-yard long, untwisted 
and separated the strands and tapered the ends, laying all of 
the thirty-six strands together, and twisting them lightly 
with the thumb and finger. 

We tried the mass in the No. 8 hole, and found it did not 
fill it, and then put it in the No, I^q, and finally in the No. 7, 
and it going in that without any difficulty we concluded 
that the No. 8 gauge would take twelve threads or seventy- 
two cords or strands, which we prepared as before, and not- 
withstanding the unyielding nature of a hole in hardened 
steel, and the edges of the hole being square and sharp 



DIFFICULTIES REMOVED BY NEW PROCESS. 27 

enough for a cutting die, we pulled in all of these seventy- 
two strands at once, without exerting over ten pounds 
strength in pulling, and without any abrasion of the thread 
worthy of mention. And yet it takes about sixty pounds 
tension to pull in one single six-cord linen thread double 
when ivaxed, and although the needle is six times too large 
for the thread, it is the smallest round-blade needle that can 
be used in stitching, after the manner that McKay machine 
stitching has ever been done. 

By reference to the cut (Fig. 6) it will be seen that two- 
thirds of the metal forming the blade of the needle has to be 
cut away to form the hook; to cut away more than this 
would make the needle too weak to puncture the sole or to 
draw in the waxed thread. There is consequently a limit to 
the amount of thread a No. 8 or any other size will carry, 
and the great disparity between the size of the hole the 
needle makes and the size of the thread it will carry, is inci- 
dental to the invention of that peculiar method of sewing the 
sole on to a shoe after it had been taken from the last, ren- 
dering it necessary to stitch with a hook. 

Now the new process which we are advocating removes all 
the difficulties above named, making an entire revolution in 
McKay stitching, and producing an entirelj'' new class and 
quality of work, on that machine ; work that is no less desir- 
able in any respect than the best hand-made. 

A needle hook of any given size will carry a greater bulk 
of cotton than linen thread, on account of the peculiar soft- 
]iess and compressibility of the cotton, and more especially so 
when the same is hihricated instead of being encumbered 
with, wax. Then, again, the lubricated cotton requires only 
about half as much tension to do twice the execution in 
drawing the soles together. 

Now, in addition to the fact of being able to use a larger 
cotton thread in the same sized needle, we so change the 
form of the needle itself as to materially increase its carrying- 
capacity without enlarging its area, and in this way cause the 



28 IMPROVED MCKAY AND WAX THREAD NEEDLES. 

thread to more nearly fill the hole. This is accomplished 
by utilizing all the metal of which the needle is made, ])y 
changing the shape from a round to a triangular form. (See 
Fig. 8.) In this illustration, the enlarged cross section pre- 




FiG. 8. 

SECTIONAL END VIEW OF LASCELL'S PEHFECTED NEEDLE. 
DOTTED LINES SHOW FORM OF OLD STYLE. 



sents an end view of a needle cut across the middle. The 
circle represents the old style round blade, ami the dark 
shading the improved. We take from the circle at A A and 
place the stock on the back at B B, thus giving all the addi- 
tional size to the hook that is indicated by the extra metal on 
the outside of the circle at B B. In making the hook, the 
blade is necessarily cut more than half in two (say from the 
front down to the line G — see hook in side view of Fig. 0) , 
and all that remains of the round blade for strength is within 
the circle helow the line C ; consequently the hook cannot be 
enlarged in the round blade needle, while in the improved 
form all of that superfluous as well as damaging metal at AA 
is removed and placed at B B, in order to enable us to get 
sufficient strength of hook both for puncturing and drawing 
in the stitch, and at the same time att'ording the opportu- 
nity to enlarge the hook. It is only by this means that a 
large hook can be made in a small needle, and thus we re- 
verse the order of stitching in this respect l)y giving a small 
blade and large hook, instead of, as in the round needle, a 
large blade and small hook. 



NEEDLE THAT LEAVES THE INSOLE SMOOTH. 



29 




EiG. 9 

REPRESENTS DIFFERENT VIEWS OF LASCELL'S PERFECTED 
NEEDLE. 



Now, all that it is possible to accomplisli witli the old style 
round blade needle under the present method, we can do un- 
der the new process with a needle one-half the size ; but this 
is not all. By removing the superfluous metal from the 
front of the blade, we have a narrow^ Y-shaped front which 
follows in the track of the hook in its downward passage, 
and comes through without any disturbance of the inner 
sole, leaving its surface smooth and even, rendering the 
beating-out process far easier. The thread being drawn into 
this Y-shaped hole is held flrmly while the beating-out pro- 
cess shuts up the hole, and pinches the thread still more 
tightly, thus supplying far more than an equivalent for 
all the holding force that wax has ever been supposed to con- 
fer, and this force is active so long as there is anything left 
of the shoe, whereas it will be remembered that, in the pre- 
ceding chapter, we showed conclusively that when the shoe 
had become so nmch worn as to require wax to hold the 
thread, there was never any wax to be found on it. 

As substantiating the truth of some statements, made in 
the previous chapter as well as this, relative to the superior- 
ity of the work made l)y the new process, it has happened 
that two tests have unwittingly been reported to the dealer 
there referred to. One was a pair of shoes bottomed on the 
McKay machine in the usual way, with linen thread and wax. 



30 OLD SHOES TELL THE STORY. 

These shoes were made last November (1881), and, as they 
hurt the feet, they were worn but a few^ times, and laid aside 
and forgotten until recently, when they were brought in with 
the usual complaints and re(iuests in such cases. 

It was deemed the best and cheapest to take the bottoms 
off and last the uppers over again, and in doing so the work- 
man Ijegan by cutting the stitches across the toe, and then 
with his thumb pried and pulled off the sole from toe to heel, 
breaking the stitches all along with but a very slight effort, 
showing that the strength of the thread had departed almost 
entirely, there being not to exceed three pounds' pull to the 
stitch out of the original seventy-flve pounds ; and this 
seemed quite renmrkable since the shoes had not been worn 
any of consequence, and the wax was undisturl)ed, so that if 
w^ax had any tendency to preserve the thread (as some people 
suppose) , that, together with the thread being surrounded or 
incased in leather (an additional help) , it should have been 
impossible to have pulled the sole off hy any ordinary means, 
as the thread should have possessed nearly if not quite its 
original strength. 

The same week another customer brought in a pair that 
was made by the new process with cotton thread. These 
shoes had been worn almost constantly, and, in fact, the 
soles were worn entirely tlirough in two or three places, but 
tlie uppers were so sound and good that it was deemed best 
to put on new bottoms. This afforded an excellent opportu- 
nity of comparing the strength and tenacity of the new as 
compared with the old method of stitching, as both pairs 
were made by the same concern and at nearly the same time. 
The stitches were cut at the toe as in the other case, but the 
workman failed to pry the soles off as in the former case, 
and was forced to cut the stitches all the way round. He 
said he had not strength enough to pull the soles off in the 
manner the others were done. Now both pairs, as stated, 
were made in the same month, and the lubricated cotton 
seemed to possess nearly if not quite all of its original 



THE DAWN OF THE NEW ERA. 31 

strength, while the waxed linen thread had retained but a 
very small percentage of it. 

These telling little incidents occurring in the daily routine 
of business in a custom shop and retail store, are valuable 
proofs of the facts set forth in this series of articles, and 
when this matter of stitching is reduced down to the finest 
possible point of practical utility by the use of a lubricated 
cotton thread, drawn in by a needle of proper shape, by 
which it can be reduced to a size corresponding to the size 
of thread used — a needle having no surperfluous metal to 
damage the shoe by making a hole six times too large for the 
thread — then will shoe manufacturers begin to see the dawn 
of a new era in their trade. 




CHAPTER IV. 



MAKING DURABLE SHOE BOTTOMS ON THE IVrrKAY 
MACHINE. 



CLOSE SEWING. 



In pursuino- the subject of how to make a durable shoe 
l)ottom on a McKay machine, too much stress cannot be laid 
on the matter of close sewing, which it is impossible to ol)- 
tain with the prevailin"- method of stitching. When a shoe 
is taken from the horn, it should be impossible to raise the 
insole from the outsole by lifting on the upper, or even by 
inserting the wedge end of the "long stick." Such sewing 
will not only keep the soles from working, but will exclude 
the dust, grit and gravel, which are so destructive of the 
thread not only, but of the upper leather also, causing the 
shoe to wear out prematurely. This has ever been the one 
great source of trouble, and whoever has used very soft wax 
has had the best success in this respect, as it comes nearest 
to acting as a lubricant, and causes the thread to run propor- 
tionally easy, and exactly in proportion to its ease of run- 
ning is the seam made solid. We challenge any McKay 
operator to controvert this proposition, since we believe that 
his experience will confirm it, and in just so far as it is con- 
firmed, is the position we have taken proven relative to the 
use of a lubricated thread. If wax was of the least possible 
service, we would give it all due credit, but since it is not 
only of no service whatever in a shoe l)ottom, but a very 
great detriment, as previously shown, rendering it impossi- 
ble to make a tight seam, it becomes ow duty to denounce it, 
and in doing so we beg to inform the reader that we have no 
friends to reward nor enemies to punish. 



I 



THE AUTHOR'S POSITION DEFINED. 



All the facts presented are self-evident, and should be 
made patent to all mankind whose interests may be promoted 
thereby, and our greatest fault lies in having withheld them 
so long, for they liave been known to us for the past six 
years. 

Our position may not be inaptly compared to that of 
a man who has found a pocket-book containing a large 
sum of money and papers of value, and is now endeavoring 
to hunt up the owner. If any of the papers therein con- 
tained should in any v^^ay seriously affect the interests of 
those engaged in making and selling linen, silk or wax, it is 
not our fault, nor can we favor them by abstracting any of 
the damaging documents. It is our business to deliver the 
pocket-book as we found it, with its contents undisturbed, 
and should our efforts in finding the owner result in making 
us known to some who had not known us before as needle 
manufacturers, and should it further convey the idea that we 
keep our eyes and ears open, and must necessarily have 
found out matters pertaining to needles as well as threads 
which enable us to make a needle better adapted for shoe 
work than we could otherwise have done, and it should lead 
to an increase of patronage ; then and to that extent shall we 
have been lucky in our find, and possibly get a partial remu- 
neration for the time we have devoted to advertising the said 
pocket-book. In thus defining our position we relieve .the 
public of any necessity for studying out the motives which 
actuate us in the advocacy of cotton and parafflne vs. linen 
and wax, and enable them to devote such misspent time to 
trying the few simple and inexpensive experiments sug- 
gested in proof of the facts we present, and which are of tlie 
most vital importance for them to know. 

We wish to say in this connection that we would go out 
of our way as far and spend as much time in the interests of 
those who manufacture linen, silk or wax, as of those who 
manufacture cotton thread or parafflne, and while it is a 
source of regret to be in conflict with any one's business in- 

5 



34 COVERED FROM NECK TO HEELS WITH PROOF. 

terests, and while we do not claim to possess moral virtues 
beyond the common herd, we can but feel that it would be 
almost criminal to withhold facts, the ^sfeneral knowledge of 
whicli would result in so great a benefit to the manufacturers 
and consumers of boots and shoes, .gloves, etc. 

FAMILIAR EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING DURABILITY OF COTTON. 

With the prevailing opinion that cotton must necessarily 
be so far inferior to silk or linen in any kind of seaming 
where great strength and durability are concerned, it may 
not be amiss to direct the attention of all interested in the 
subject to a few common-place matters familiar to all. 

The shoe manufacturer who starts with a look of surprise 
at the mere mention of cotton for sole seumig or for the seam- 
ing of shoe uppers, never stops to think of the cotton threads 
composing the warp and woof of his shirt, nor of the cotton 
thread with which it is stitched, nor yet of the marvellous 
service it endures in daily wear not only, but the sweating 
and washing and rubbing and wringing and boiling and 
bleaching and ironing, and the same repeated week after 
week and month after month ; whereas, if shoes stitched with 
silk or linen would endure half the hard usage they would be 
considered eminently satisfactory ; and yet it is very evident 
that the nature of cotton undergoes no change from change 
of uses. Cotton thread in a shoe is the same as in a shirt or 
dress, and in whatever place it is put it is certain to prove 
the most durable of all the threads in use. 

Ask any intelligent matron which of two every-day work 
dresses would wear the longest, one made of common brown 
sheeting, or one made of the heaviest of black silk, and she 
would say the former Avould outwear a half dozen of the 
latter. 

No person need l)e led astray in the matter of threads, as 
in previous chapters we have given many simple sugges- 
tions illustrating some of them, in order that any one might, 



VOLUNTARY TESTIMONY OF CHARLES GOODYEAR, JR. 35 

in a few moments, test the truth of any of our statements 
for himself as to the rela^tive value of the different threads. 
The most practical and valuable of these tests were made 
by Charles Goodyear, Jr. , the inventor of the Goodyear Welt 
and Turn Machines. As previously stated, Mr. Goodyear 
became much interested in this subject over two years ago, 
and probed the matter to the very bottom, in order to satisfy 
himself of the truth or falsity of our statements, and, when 
asked more recently if he had adopted the cotton, he said 
no,* not because I am not thoroughly convinced of the supe- 
riority of cotton for either shoe bottoms or uppers, but, said 
he, whatever the superiority of cotton may be, it would re- 
quire far more time and labor to convince the public of the 
real value of cotton than of the superiority of my machines, 
and, since the work done on them is so much better even 
with linen thread and wax than shoes bottomed on the McKay 
machine, I prefer not to trouble those with whom I am deal- 
ing with a matter that at first would seem to them to be very 
questionable. Since then I received the following letter 
from Mr. Goodyear : 

Boston, Mass., June 29, 1882. 
Mr. Lascell : 

Dear Sir, — Since reading the article in the Manufactu- 
rers' Gazette, " Is Cotton King?" I have tried as impartial an 
experiment as I could devise by taking side by side, between 
the fingers, according to the cut you recently published, a 
thread of six-cord yellow flax and one of sixteen cord No. 20 
cotton, and chafed away in the same spot (on the cotton), 
until I cut the flax six times clean off. The cotton was so 
little worn after passing it a few times between the fingers 
to lay the nap, it is impossible to tell at what point the chaf- 
ing took place. In one respect this test was not, perhaps, 
quite impartial, for the diameter of the cotton being greater 



* At this writing (May, 1884), Mr. Goodyear is using cotton exclusively and 
has been for a year past in his factory at Lynn, Mass., which is devoted to 
making sample cases of boots as tests of the superiority of his machines for 
making durable and flexible shoes. Uppers are sent here from all sections 
and in large quantites in many instances. 



36 



FOLLOWING MR. GOODYEAR'S HINTS. 



than that of the flax, the cotton naturally got the greater 
wear or friction, both being as close together as it was pos- 
sible to hold them. As any manlifacturer or person inter- 
ested can try these simple experiments for his own satisfac- 
tion, they need not take your arguments or those of any of 
" the blind advocates of cotton." 

Yours very truly, 

CHAS. GOODYEAR, Jr. 

Now to those who are at all acquainted with Mr. Good- 
year, this unsolicited letter and test will prove of great value 
as substantiating our position. 

A PRACTICAL TE.S'i". 

Following the hints contained therein. I have endeavored 
to try a still more impartial test (in this at least) that I took 
a piece of six-cord 16 linen thread, which was larger than the 
cotton (sixteen-cord 20) , and holding the two tlireads side by 
side, and as close together as possible (in the manner de- 




scrilied by Mr. Goodyear), I began chafing the two between 
the thumb and forefing(n- nails of eacli liand, as shown by 
the above] sketch, and in just four minutes I liad chafed 



A WEARING TEST PHOTOGRAPHED. 



37 



the linen thread completely in two, and at the expiration of 
thirty minutes I had chafed in two eight linen threads. I 
parted the ninth thread in seven minutes more; the ninth 
thread consuming three minutes more than the first, was 
owing to the hands being wearied by the operation, and the 
movements slower. Every joint in my hands had become so 
painful that I was obliged to desist, leaving every strand of 




Fig 



the cotton whole; and, notwithstanding the cotton was 
chafed in one spot all the time, yet it was not worn enough 
to make the spot easily distinguishable to one who did not 
know just where to look for it (after having restored the 
twist and smoothed down the nap). Now, if the linen had 
not been larger than the cotton, more than nine threads 
would have been worn in two in the thirty-seven minutes in 



38 THE TENSILE STRENGTH OF WOOD. 

all prol3ability, and just how many more would have been 
worn in two before the cotton would have worn out is of no 
great consequence, as this test proved that cotton will, at the 
least, wear nine times lon.ger than linen, and for aught we 
know twent.y-nine, thirty-nine or tift,y-nine times. I gummed 
the cotton and linen threads to a sheet of paper, from which 
Fig. 11 was photographed.* 

Now, from these tests very valuable hints to shoe manu- 
facturers as w^ell as manufacturers of clothing, may be de- 
rived in the matter of sewing on buttons, for if cotton will 
wear from nine to twenty times longer than linen thread, of 
equal size, no one will care to use linen, when they shall have 
ascertained that the tensile strength of cotton is all sufficient 
for that purpose. Linen thread comes about as near being 
entirely worthless (where it is exposed to friction) as can 
well be imagined, notwithstanding its tensile strength. If 
you go to your match-box and take out a match, and it proves 
to be a straight-grained piece of pine, you would find that its 
tf^nsile strength would effectually resist the power of any tw^o 
of the strongest men you can select ; yet it would require all 
the sophistry of a Calvin or a Knox to make it appear that 
its tlljre would stand any chaflng, or prove to be of any ser- 
vice whatever as a thread. A hickory walking-stick, too 
small for a fop to lean upon, would have tensile strength 
sufficient to suspend a number of tons' weight, but it is futile 
to argue from such premises that a woody flbre, of however 
much tensile strength, is flt for a shoe thread, yet who ever 
heard of any shoe thread that was not linen. Linen, as 
everybody knows (or should know), is but the bark of a 
stalk, a woddy flbre at best, and chiefly valuable where its 
tensile strength alo7ie is required, as in the stays of a ship. 



* There is a seeming discrepancy between Mr. Goodyear's test and mine, 
inasmucli as it took him fifteen minutes to chafe one thread in two, whereas. 
I performed a like feat In just four minutes. Tlie explanation Is that his 
motions were niucli less rapid and vigorous, and his finger nails much shorter 
tlian mine. 



WHAT SUPERLATIVE NONSENSE! 39 

ships' cables, and like kindred uses, where it has nothing to 
do but to withstand a longitudinal strain. Now, when the 
woody nature of flax and hemp is considered, is it any won- 
der that it will not endure a twentieth part of the service 
that cotton will? Is it to be wondered at that your sus- 
pender buttons come off after being sewed on with tensile 
strength of linen sufficient to hang the man and pants too? 
We challenge the world to produce anything quite equal to 
the superlative nonsense of using a wooden thread solely on 
account* of its tensile strength and which is the only merit it 
possesses, as the foregoing tests fully demonstrate. 






CHAPTER V. 



WAXED VS. DRY THREADS 



At this sta^e of the arguments on this question I found 
that the " Boot and Shoe Trades Journal," of London, Eng- 
land, had copied them, which awakened some opposition 
there, as under date of July 3, 1882, a Mr. Wm. Churchill 
writes to that Journal as follows : 

" Having- read in your valuable journal the remarks of Mr. 
Lascell on wax as a sewing agent, with your kind permission 
I should like to say a few words on the subject. 

" Mr. Lascell says that if an old shoe, which has been 
sewn on the McKay machine, be examined after it has 
been worn down to tlie bottom of the channel, to the extent 
of wearing off the stitches, the thread will be found as dry 
and destitute of wax as it was when it left the thread mill. 
If Mr. Lascell found it so, then I say that the thread was not 
properly waxed in the first instance. 

"It appears to me to be Mr. Lascell's opinion that it is 
impossible to sew solidly with the use of wax. His ob- 
jections are that it .clogs, rots and burns the thread, and he 
asserts that it is impossible to keep the thread hot enough, 
no matter how hot the wax may be, or how rapid the stitch- 
ing. Another of his objections is that it besmears and clogs 
the needle, which it causes to run hard, and wastes. 

" After many years' experience in machine and hand-sewn 
work, I can only come to the opinion that better sewing can 
be done with wax than without it. I mean, of course, good 
wax made from resin, pitch and tallow, well worked, and 
neither too hard nor too soft, although it is better to have it 
a little hard than too soft. Bad wax certainly makes bad 
sewing, but good wax makes good solid sewing ; it assists 
the thread through the machine, strengthens it, forms an 
outside coating, which makes it waterproof, and acts as a 
glue, by sticking it to the leather, so that when the stitch is 
worn off in the channel the thread still adheres firmly to the 



ANSWERING MR. CHURCHILL. 41 

sole, welt, upper and inner sole, which would not be the case 
without. 

" Mr. Lascell also states that one of the largest retail 
houses in Lynn, has, since last November, put out over 
2000 pairs bottomed without wax, and the result has been all 
that could be desired. May I inform Mr. Lascell that. I am 
acquainted with a retail house in London which has turned 
out over 30,000 pairs since last November, all of which were 
sewn with wax thread, and the result in this case also has 
been all that could be desired. The case is cited by Mr. 
Lascell of a pair of boots made last November, which had 
been three times clumped. Apart from the fact that this 
does not speak much for the wear of the boots, what would 
he say to a pair of heavy water tight boots lasting three 
years; they were, too, only clumped four times during the 
three j^ears, and are still in wear. They were, however, 
sewn with Finlayson's ten-cord, well waxed, not four-cord. 
I doubt very much whether they would have stood so long- 
had they been sewn with anything else." 

Answering Mr. Churchill's statements in their order I 
would say : 1st, that it does not seem at all probable that he 
had taken a worn-out McKay sewed shoe bottom to pieces to 
ascertain the truth of my statements, as, if he had done so, 
he would probably have answered differently, if at'all. Yet 
Mr. Churchill doubtless voices the opinion of every shoe- 
maker in both Europe and America, when he says "I can 
only come to the conclusion that better sewing can be done 
with wax than without it," but that by no means disproves 
the anti-wax theory any more than a Turk's belief in the 
Koran disproves the revelations of the New Testament. 

In speaking of wax he says, I mean good wax, made of 
resin, pitch and tallow, which he claims is better a little hard 
than too soft, and adds, 1st, that it assists the thread through 
the machine ! Now if he means by this that it assists in con- 
trast with a lubricant of parafflne or grease of any kind, then 
let him grease a few yards of thread and sew a pair, and if 
he finds that the greased thread drags and holds back and 
runs harder than a thread prepared with his good wax I will 
yield the point. But of course this is out of the range of 
6 



42 STITCHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 

possibilities when stitching with the McKay Sole Sewing Ma- 
chines, on account of being obliged to haul in the stitch next 
l)ack of and by the power exerted in taking up the loop for 
the next stitch. To make the matter more clearly under- 
stood, we will suppose that we are sewing by hand, and we 
leave the stitch we are taking loose, letting the loop stick 
out half an inch, with the intention of drawing it in and 
forming a solid stitch by the force we exert on the next, 
and so on throughout the seam. From this it will be under- 
stood how difficult it would be to make as tight a seam as if 
our tliread was lubricated, for it must be borne in mind that 
all the stitches taken by the above-named machines are pulled 
in to this great disadvantage as compared with sewing 
by hand, where one stitch is pulled at a time and tight- 
ened before taking the next. To add to the difficulty, the 
loose, long loop that has to be drawn in by the next has 
been held by the needle a])ove the shoe, and completely cut 
oft" from the heat in the horn during the time the needle re- 
turns and loops up the next. In pulling up this next loop 
the cooled thread has to be drawn in to form the stitch ; 
hence it necessarily follows that the larger the needle hole, 
and the hotter the room and the softer the wax the less fric- 
tion in drawing in, and consequently the more firmly will the 
outer and insoles be drawn together; and the more lirmly 
they are drawn together the less liability there is of the soles 
working and cutting oft' the threads between them, which is 
so commonly seen in McKay machine bottoms. 

Now, every McKay machine operator may come to under- 
stand that as stitching is now and has been done on that 
machine the large needle hole, the hot room and the soft wax 
are important factors in making "solid" stitching, all of 
which oppose Mr. Churchill's "good-wax" theory. These 
conditions are every one of them indispensable, and to the ex- 
tent that this is seen to be true should })e the desire of all to 
get rid of them. To this end the first inquiry should be as 
to the importance of wax. This can be best ascertained from 



THE TRUE WAY TO TEST WAX. 43 

dissecting- worn-out shoes. First, find some wax. Second, 
ascertain tlie quantity and quality of it as compared with 
Mr. Churcliill's new good wax. These investigations' may 
lead Mr. Churchill into the path to a fortune by suggesting 
some new ingredients that will materially improve it, in case 
he should fail to find any of his good wax in worn-out shoes. 
It must be borne in mind in this connection that wax is an 
article of commerce, vv'hich, by universal consent, has not 
been deemed susceptible of improvement or change for the 
better. 

Mr. Churchill also says that wax strengthens the thread; 
but just how or to what extent we are left to conjecture. I 
can not conceive that wax can possibly add any more strength 
to the thread than clear water or a solution of gum traga- 
canth would do in laying the fibres that may be sticking up 
on the surface of the thread, which, if laid down, would add 
their mite to its strength. And as to wax forming a water- 
proof coating, the extent to which this is true may be readily 
ascertained by soaking a few waxed ends in a pail of water, 
or its water-proof qualities may be seen to the best advan- 
tage, perhaps, in the shoe that has been worn a few weeks, 
should you be fortunate enough to find any spot on the 
thread where the wax adheres, and at the same instant you 
will discover the purpose that the wax thread serves in hold- 
ing the thread in a needle hole that is at least six times larger 
than the thread when the stitching has been done with the 
old-style round blade needle. 

In speaking of the large retail house in Lynn having put 
out over two thousand pairs sewed with cotton and paraffine 
which proved " eminently satisfactory," I should have added, 
as tests of the value of the new as compared with the old method, 
while most of the manufacturers in Lynn, some turning out 
on an average twenty cases per day of sixty pairs to the 
case, would doubtless say their goods were also eminently 
satisfactory (especially as compared to paying the extra cost 
of hand work), and they will doubtless continue so to ex- 



44 THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND. 

press themselves until they get their eyes open to the possi- 
bility of making better goods without wax. As to the heavy 
" water-tight" boots lasting three years. I should say that as 
such boots are put together in London (superbly sewed and 
nailed), and worn only when " water-tight " boots are need- 
ed, they might last me three years or possibly three score 
years. Extra good boots may be made in Europe or America, 
and neither prove nor disprove the importance of wax, which 
has a value or it has not. If it has any real value, old shoes 
will best enable you to determine how much. 




^m 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOW TO PREPARE THREAD FOR SOLE SEWING. 



Since the publication of the preceding chapters many 
inquiries have been received as to parafflne — what it is, and 
how to use it. 

Parafflne is a product of petroleum, and may be found in 
places where paints, oils, and drugs are sold. It is run into 
cakes 16X20 in size and about an inch thick, and very much 
resembles camphor gum for beauty and purity, as may be 
inferred from its appearance in the form of wax candles ; 
the cost of it fluctuates somewhat as does the crude oil. 

Gn account of its hardness, parafflne is peculiarly well 
adapted as a thread dressing for use in sole sewing, as it 
stiffens the thread so that when the loop is cast off the hook 
it will stand like a waxed thread. The lighter the coat the 
better, until you exceed the limit of stiffness necessary to 
make the loop controllable. In trying an experiment, strip 
off all you can. The thread should be run through the waxer 
the same as in dressing linen thread with wax, having flrst 
cleaned the wax out and substituted parafflne. To strip 
the thread sufflciently dry you will need to lay a string or a 
piece of six-cord linen thread in the stripper to contract the 
aperture through which the thread passes. A successful ex- 
periment in stitching cannot well be tried by stopping the 
machine and winding a sufficient amount of thread on the 
spool for a pair or two of shoes, as in that case the machine 
will be warm and the parafflne so softened as to require slow 
and careful stitching in order to accomplish your purpose ; 
and to try the experiment with a cold machine necessarily 
clogged with wax would be quite as bad, possibly, as the ma- 



46 CLEANLINESS OF THE NEW SYSTEM. 

chine would not only run hard and stiff', but strain the whirl 
gearing, and perhaps break it. To stitch satisfactorily, you 
need to thoroughly clean all the moving parts, and oil them 
well with (Ave should say) crude petroleum oil, which, having 
all the kerosene properties in it. will never gum, and for this 
reason this oil is far better than any other (however much 
refined) for all sewing machines, both " wax and dry thread," 
and for all swift-running journals as well, but care should be 
taken to select such as has had the grit thoroughly strained 
out, which may be ascertained by rubbing a drop between the 
thumb and finger. This oil costs from thirty-five to fifty 
cents per gallon; and we would rather have one gallon of 
it than ten gallons of any other which is used ordinarily on 
sewing machines. 

A McKay machine thoroughly cleaned and oiled will run 
cold with a lightness and freedom that will astonish the ope- 
rator; and as the work with lubricated thread is compara- 
tively light, the machine will not get out of order as for- 
merly, and as to cleanliness, a borrowed operator from a 
neighboring shop said, after stitching a few pairs : 

■'I could stitch here all day in white kid gloves and not 
soil them." 

From hints above given it will be seen that all experimental 
work under wax conditions must necessarily prove unsatis- 
factory. With proper care a few pairs may be stitched with 
a warm machine as test shoes, but you can never know what 
it is to stitch rapidly and well until your machine is put in 
order for being run cold, and the adjustments made that are 
necessary to the change of conditions. It will be found 
(luite important to use the smallest needle possible, the whole 
theory of which was fully set forth in Chapter III. which 
should be read in this connection. 

Cotton thread will be found to l)e much more elastic than 
linen, and being luhri rated, as the needle lets go of the loop, it 
is inclined to slip back a little, and become shortened ; con- 



MACHINE ADJUSTMENT NEEDED TO USE COTTON. 47 

seqiiently, it becomes necessary to adjust the machine so as 
to pull np the loop enough longer to compensate for it. The 
amount of pull back depends on the size and shape of the 
needle, and the amount of tension employed in drawing in 
the stitches. In Chapter III, we described the form of 
needle necessary to use in any case, but more especially in 
the use of a lubricated thread, and we will send samples of 
them to any one wishing to test them, if they will kindly in- 
form us as to the size of round needle they are using, or send 
sample of the thread they wish the needle to carry. 

To the question : ' ' Where can we get cotton for sole 
sewing?" we reply that thus far we have furnished it for 
experimental use, and to a few who have adopted it perma- 
nently. In this incipient stage of its use, it seemed quite 
important to procure the best thread that could be made from 
pure Sea Island cotton, and consequently we have supplied 
this want, and now deem it best to continue to do so, and at 
manufacturers' prices, to all who may apply, and for experi- 
mental purposes we will send it all ready prepared for use, 
together with the proper needle for such purpose. 

The cost of stitching a case of shoes with the best Sea 
Island cotton will cost no more if as much as with linen, as 
the cotton being so much lighter, it has one-third more yards 
to the pound, and besides, it will stretch about one-sixth 
in sewing. Then, in the use of parafflne, the expense of a 
constant blaze' in the horn is saved, as well as a noticeable 
difference in cost as between parafflne and wax, in favor of 
the former, so that when all are taken together the cost of 
stitching a case of shoes with the best Sea Island cotton and 
parafflne is less than with linen and wax. 

The question has several times been asked, why linen will 
not work as well as cotton if dressed in like manner, and we 
answer that for aught we know to the contrary it will. The 
only question will be as to the smoothness of the linen, and 
the parafflne affording a sufficient coating to prevent its 
roughing up, etc., which can easily be determined by atrial 



48 A WORD WITH MR. CANHAM. 

according- to the directions above given. Certain it is, how- 
ever, that a linen thread coated with paraffine will serve a 
much better purpose in a shoe bottom than it ever has done 
with wax, inasnmch as the stitcliing will be far more solid, 
with much less tension, provided your needle-hole is of the 
proper shape and size. A six-cord thread usually used in an 
8)0 round blade needle, may be carried (under the conditions 
described in Chapter III) with a Lascell patent needle of less 
size and with proportionately less damage to the upper and 
sole leather, but it is only on account of the erroneous notion 
that great tensile strength is needed that any one wonld cling- 
to linen, especially after seeing the tests illustrated and de- 
scribed in the previous chapters. 

And now, I wish to have a word with Mr. A. S. Canham, 
another correspondent of the London Boot and Shoe Trades 
Journal, who, like Mr. Wm. Churchill, simply gives his 
"opinion" regarding the importance of wax, and in giv- 
ing- his opinion he but echoes the opinion of every other shoe- 
maker in England doubtless, who has used wax from boyhood 
without question, and thinks he knows just what he" is talk- 
ing- about and of course rushes into print, regardless of the 
possibility of his ever being able to learn anything to the con- 
trary. He says my "remarks would be amusing- if it were 
not possible that some would be misled by them." I might 
make another amusing remark, none the less truthful than 
my remarks on the wax question, to wit : That in the month 
of April of this ever-memorable year, 1882, the water in all 
this region of country got on a rampage, and millions of 
barrels of it run right up perpendicularly from the ground 
to the very tops of the highest trees, producing a transfor- 
mation truly wonderful to behold. 

Now as to this statement being true, I say as I did relative 
to the wax matter, the truth of it is susceptible of demonstra- 
tion, but lest some one deeming it important to guard the 
public against being led astray by such nonsense (?) should 
hastily print a denial without previous investigation, I would 



PLOWING WITH A HEIFER. 49 

state that certain members of the F. E. S., of London, also 
know the facts to be substantially as stated. 

• If Mr. Canham seeks to prove that flax will not rot rapidlj^ 
with a coating of good wax, let him use a thread tester on a 
freshly made thread, stitch a boot with it, and after the boot 
has been worn one month or six months take the boot to 
pieces and try the strength of the old thread. If he finds 
twenty-five per cent, of the original strength after one 
month, or ten per cent, after six months wear, I will 
make him a present of a pair of English-made ten-dollar 
boots. 

Such a test will show just how much inportance attaches 
to his remarks under that head. The test may be made more 
cheaply by stitching two pieces of sole leather together, and 
laying them out on the roof, or in the shade. Make two 
rows of stitching with the same size and kind of thread, let 
one seam be made with a thread well waxed, and the other 
coated with a piece of paraftine (wax candle) , simply to pre- 
vent the thread from wearing in stitching, and you will have 
the means of knowing which method has best preserved the 
thread as well as the importance of wax as a preservative. 

The making of "good wax" was contemporaneous with 
plowing the ground with a heifer harnessed to a root. The 
former.still holds the first rank in the most enlightened coun- 
tries, while the latter has become obsolete and can only be 
seen in use amongst the uncivilized, if at all. 

Mr. Canham refers to 



" The old method of stitching the jockey boot heel on di- 
rectly through the face of the rand. After the heel was 
built, the head of every stitch, he says, was chafed ofl' with 
the rand breaker and the face set with gum ; yet, although 
the boot-jack was often used, I never saw one such heel give 
way." 

Now^ we submit that if the top of every stitch was chafed 
off with the stitches sunk into the rand as the sewing on of 



50 THREADS NEVER BACK OUT. 

a heel would necessarily involve, then there would be l)ut 
a very little of the rand left for any purpose ; but if the rand 
breaker was simply used to make a level surface (as seems 
most probable) the full tenacity of the stitch would be pre- 
served. Then again no account is made of the penginfj on of 
the heel lifts (more or less) , nor yet of the fact that wiien a 
man uses a boot-jack he jams his heel into it opposite the 
middle of the counter, and besides, Mr. Canham's observa- 
tions must necessarily have been exceedingly limited as com- 
pared with the vast number of such boots worn. 
He continues : 



" It was the same with fore parts ; cliannels were only just 
cut long enough to cover the stitch, and the heads of these 
were soon worn oil'; but where the work was properly done, 
the sole seldom, if ever, came undone." 



Mr. C. seems oblivious to the fact that where they do come 
" undone " the thread never drawls back out of the hole, leav- 
ing it open and free to insert other stitches, but the thread 
remains in both the sole and the welt, and that the stitches 
are literally cut ofl' by the movement of the sole against the 
welt, as every cobbler knows who has occasion to repair 
them; he has either to pick out the old stitches, or sew 
through or betw^een them, and the same would be true 
whether the thread had been waxed or not, especially 
where the sewing is done with threads so much larger than 
the awl holes 'into which they are so forcibly pulled. 

It should not be forgotten that in the discussion of this 
wax question our remarks have been confined to the use of 
wax in Blake or McKay machine work, and in this connection 
we quote a few^ lines from Chapter III, which are also appli- 
cable to hand work, so far as the liability of the stitches 
' • becoming undone " is concerned. 

" Again, wax is entirely superfluous in holding a McKay 
stitched bottom, for the reason that the stitches wear ofl" 



A MOUNTAIN IN LABOR. 51 



only in spots. It is not one time in ten thousand that a shoe 
sole is worn so square and level as to wear the stitches oft" 
all along the sides from shank to toe simultaneously, if, in- 
deed, such a thing- was ever known to occur. You will gen- 
erally see a space of an inch at the ball, outside or inside, and 
either side of the gap the stitches not being worn off hold 
independent of wax, and at either side of the space the thread 
lias too far to travel (in the loop stitch) to work itself out 
so as to enlarge the gap. 

Whatever tendency you might imagine existed for so 
working out, you will And, nevertheless, that the stitches 
stand in place like so many pegs awaiting their release by the 
cobbler. What folly, then, to look in that direction for the 
difiiculty, when it is always found hetioeen the sole and the 
upper, and that is where the average idiot might know that 
wax was useless." 

Mr. Canham further says : 



•' I am well aware that the present system does not require 
the same strength to hold the sole and upper together as did 
the old ; the beveled edges and diagonal position of the welt 
seam, the insertion of hard shanks and many layers of bottom 
filling, rendered tlie stitching a work of immense importance ; 
it loas like binding together a bundle of pieces every one of which 
exerted friction on the band, and it was only by keeping the 
seam or thread perfectly rigid that it was held together. 
This may appear strange to the advocates of elastic seams, 
but it is nevertheless correct, whilst at the same time there 
was far more elasticity for easy wear than can be gained hy 
a tight sewn loop stitch seam ; for- in this there can be no 
yielding, as the stitches are held by a kind of staple link, 
stitch to stitch, along the whole length of the boot, unless 
the thread works on itself with a fiddle motion, which would 
inevitably destroy it. I do not mean to say that this kind of 
work will not stand, for I have seen it answer admirably, 
but that does not disprove my statement. In hand and lock- 
stitch sewing every stitch is a joint along the stuff", and mo- 
tion along the line produces but little if any strain on the 
thread. The question has been asked, why, if it is necessary 
to wax threads, should not pegs be also waxed? The idea is 



52 MYSTERY ON MYSTERY. 



ridiculous to a practical mind ; before using, the peg is dried 
to the uttermost, so that shrinkage afterwards is impossible: 
the leather is also used in a somewhat dry state and the awl 
is only about half the substance of the peg, so that when 
properly driven home and the point roughed on the inside, 
and the outside properly filled over, it is not only severely 
compressed, but riveted on both sides, so that withdrawal is 
impossible. To argue against wax is, in my opinion, a waste 
of words, if nothing worse : athough if present circum- 
stances render its use an impossibility, then to explain a sys- 
tem that is satisfactory without it. will certainly advance 
the interests of the trade." 



Answ^ering the first item, 1 fail to see that bottom filling 
that comes just even with the top of the upper leather lasted 
over should be at all as described, as, in fact, the bottom 
thus filled must necessarily be easier on the thread than 
without any bottom filling ; and just how the bottom filling, 
much or little, could come in contact with and render extra 
solid stitching necessary on that account, is one of the mys- 
teries that a shoemaker, sixty years old, fails to comprehend. 
That such very solid sewing should be more elastic than the 
loop stitch I can readily understand, especiallij where loax is 
used. Nobody would think of finding a McKay sewed bot- 
tom as rtexible as hand sewed, and such will never be the 
case, until they either do away with wax, or stop sewing 
through the inner sole. But when you lubricate the loop, in 
place of waxing it, you have the most elastic stitch, and con- 
sequently the most elastic seam that it is possible to make. 

How it happens that "the hand stitch becomes a joint 
along the stuft'" is another mystery, but that the so-called 
•'lock stitch" (?) does in a measure, is more clear, and it is 
also as clear that the Joints suffer from enlorgement. 

As to pegs,*I am aware that they are well seasoned, and 
that when wet will swell, and that the shrinkage of the sole 
leather tends to enlarge rather than contract the hole into 
which the peg is driven. I also know that it was never prac- 
ticable to drive a peg into so small a hole as you could draw 



RIVETING PEGS A QUEER EXPEDIENT. 



a like bulk of thread into, and that as a rule the awl-hole is 
much more thoroughly filled with thread than with peg-Avood ; 
and consequently, if wax is indispensable in the one case it 
must be equally so in the other. 

That pegs are thoroughly dried I am aware, but that their 
being so prevents their absorption of moisture before or 
after being used, and therefore renders them not liable to 
shrinkage, is a statement no less questionable than the other 
statement, that when driven, they " are so riveted on one 
end and filled over on the other " (or as he says in 
the same breath), ''riveted on both ends," and severely 
compressed so that " withdrawal is impossible,'' is quite 
novel, to say the least. I well remember, that wdien an ap- 
prentice, I w'as taunted by my shop mates with " riveting my 
'pegs,'" the battered ends of Avhich had to be rasped oft' in 
order to make a decent-looking bottom ; but had I known 
then how important "riveting" was, and that with all such 
riveted pegs " vjithdrawal was impossible," I could have turned 
the laugh upon the journeymen, who prided themselves on 
pegging so smoothly that the grain of the sole-leather had 
seldom to be scratched with the rasp, or shaved off" with the 
knife in order that the diamond-shaped end of the pegs could 
be seen in all their symmetry. 

Now, when we leave the old seat, and go to one of the 
modern pegging machines, which wall put a row of pegs 
around a boot in from six to ten seconds, Avith an awl more 
nearly the size of the peg than in hand made, you have a 
quality of work quite unexceptionable so far as durability or 
beauty is concerned, and which completely upsets Mr. Can- 
ham's conceited flourish regarding the question of waxing 
pegs as well as thread to make them hold. 

It is to be regretted that no one on this side the ocean has 
seen fit to oft'er anything in opposition to the use of cotton 
or parafline as substitutes for linen and Avax, and it may, 
perhaps, be accounted for in the fact that improvements in 
every direction succeed each other so rapidly in America that 



54 A SHOE MANUFACTURER MAKES A DISCOVERY. 

any suggestion, however strange, gets a respectful liearing : 
or perhaps they are making experiments which may serve as 
a basis for an opposing argument, or futAire action. Certain 
it is, however, that many are investigating this subject, and 
hundreds of pairs of test shoes are now being worn. 

The writer was in the city of Rochester, N. Y., on the 15th 
of August (1882), and while talking with one of the proprie- 
tors of the largest shoe manufactory there, the subject of 
wax came up. He showed me the inner sole of a shoe (one 
of a pair he had brought for the purpose of dissection) , and 
said in ripping the shoe to pieces he could not find a particle 
of wax, and the shoes were fresh and new, never having 
been worn. He said they looked as if they had not been oft" 
tlie last over a month, but there was nothing to indicate their 
exact age, and he could not say that they had not been made 
three or even six months ; but certain it is that there was no 
Avax to be found, although the inner sole showed the stains 
or marks indicating where the wax had been. This concern, 
averaging to turn out 20 cases of shoes per day, of 60 pairs 
to the case, have now abandoned both linen and wax for sole 
sewing, as they had four years previously abandoned silk and 
linen for cotton in seaming shoe uppers. Their abundant 
success in the latter led them to an immediate investigation 
of the cotton and anti-wax theory in sole sewing, by making- 
test shoes, and the result is as above stated. They have 
made the change with a promptness and a degree of assur- 
ance that contrasts strangely with mere opinions, as ex- 
pressed by our would-be critics from across the ocean, who, 
if they would say "w^hoa" to their heifer, and take a look over 
the fence and see a team of horses hitched to a modern steel 
plow, they might possibly be induced to at least stick a knife 
down into the sod, Iw way of experiment. 

There are two or three uses for wax : one is to draw in- 
flammation from a wound, sore or boil, another is to seal 
corks in >)ottling wine or cider : and it is not to be disputed 
that it protects a linen thread and enables a shoemaker to use 



A ROUGH EXPERIMENT. 55 

up a thread by frequent waxing without wearing it literally 
to pieces, as would be the case without waxing ; for there is 
no kind of thread that will not stand more friction than 
linen, and as to the original value of wax as found in tlu^ hall, 
it is very doubtful if it w^as ever burned so badly in the kettle 
as it is in the awl hole when drawn through as rapidly as it 
is often done. If you would get an idea of this, wax a 
thread well and squeeze it as tightly as possible in the hand, 
and then draw the thread rapidly through it, and if your ex- 
periment is a successful one, you will find your skin seared as 
with a hot iron. Now this may suggest a reason why the 
welt of a boot often cracks off prematurely. The most prob- 
able reason is that it is burned off, and that if you had used 
paraffine, or even beeswax, neither your thread nor your 
leather would have been injured. I am not prepared now to 
say to what extent this may be true, but I deem it a thought 
worthy of consideration at least. It is very well to admire a 
ball of "well-made, golden-hued wax," but it by no means 
follows that you have the same quality in the stitch when 
drawn in. If it was possible to gather a ball of such wax 
and present it to Mr. Canliam he would say it was wholly 
unfit for use. When a shoemaker draws off a thread of tAvo 
lengths, it will measure ten feet from end to end of taper, 
and in stitching a sole to a welt half an inch would be taken 
up to each stitch. Now, if you leave " waxed ends " each a 
foot in length, then the thread forming the last stitch shall 
have run the gauntlet of fire with lightning rapidity just one 
hundred and ninety-two times, the average being ninety-six. 
Here is necessarily a transformation from the golden-hued 
ball to — what? will Mr. Canham rise and explain? 

Now a dry or greased thread drawn into a hole half its size 
(as in hand work) , will hold equally well, and if any ripping 
(?) occurs, it will be the same old style of the cutting off of 
the thread between the sole and welt, while the stitches will 
ever be found in both sole and welt undisturbed. Wax is 
'Wax until you subject it to a burning friction from one to one 



56 A VERY COMMON ERROR. 

hundred and ninety-two times, which ruins it; and ^o needles 
are needles, and a poor one will as certainly wear you thread 
out, as friction will burn all the life out of the wax. ' When 
a man buys a silk that will pull ten pounds, he thinks he has 
got that ten pounds' strength in the shoe, but such is by no 
means the case. The strength of the thread in the shoe de- 
pends entirely on the quality of the needle used, and when a 
man thinks he is buying needles very cheap, " lie is paying 
verv dear for his whistle." 






CHAPTER VII 



WHY IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE AS SOLID STITCHING 
WITH WAX AS WITHOUT IT IN SOLE-SEWING. 



In the elucidation of this subject, I will, also, answer Mr. 
Churchill's latest eftusion as published in the London Boot 
and Shoe Trades Journal of September 2 (1882). Mr. 
Churchill has probably failed of getting more than brief ex- 
tracts from the matters contained in the foregoing chapters ; 
for had he seen my answer to him in full, and improved up- 
on the hints therein contained, he might have proved for 
himself the utter fallacy of his position, unless he writes 
simply for the purpose of ''disputation." We thank him, 
however, in any event, and he would have laid us under fur- 
ther obligation had he stated the manner in which the tests 
referred to were made. We quote his letter in full in order 
that the reader may comprehend fully our comments. 

WAXED vs. DKY THREADS. 

"Having disputed Mr. G. W. Lascell's previous statements 
through your valuable journal, I sjiould like, with your kind 
permission to reply to that gentleman's last letter, printed in 
the Boot and Shoe Trades Journal, of August 26 (1882). • Mr. 
Lascell has failed to prove that boots are better sewn without 
wax than with it, and now he attempts to prove that soft 
wax is better than a moderately firm one. The Blake and 
Goodyear Machine Company formerly used soft wax for 
their welt and stitching machines, but now they use hard 
wax, which they consider a great improvement, as they And 
it adds to the strength of the sewing. So far as Mr. Lascell's 
remarks on the working of the McKay or Blake machines are 
concerned, I can but think he has been misinformed, or he 
Avould hardly have put forth such statements. In the first 



58 ANSWERING MR. CHURCHH.L. 



place, the machine sews so rapidly that the needle gets hot, 
and the thread passing through the needle has not time to 
get cold as he represents ; nor does it require a large needle, 
hot room, or soft wax to make good sewing. 

" Mr. Lascell must surely have seen the advertisements of 
sewing machine manufacturers and sewing machine sellers, 
in which they state that their machines work w^ith hard wax, 
claiming this as an advantage over those that work with soft 
wax only, Avhich has long since been condemned as a sewing- 
agent. Although Mr. Lascell states that he cannot conceive 
that wax can possibly add any more strength to the thread 
than clear water or a solution of gum tragacanth would do, 
by laying the fibres that may be sticking up on the surface of 
the thread, and which, if laid down, would add their mite to 
the strength, yet I think if he will do as I have done, and 
test the difierence of a thread not waxed and a thread properly 
waxed, he will find that the latter will bear more tension than 
the one not waxed, while a thread waxed with an oily, soft 
wax will not bear half so much tension as a thread waxed 
with a good, firm wax. This I think is a sufficient proof that 
wax strengthens the thread." 



First then, Mr. Churchill says: " I have failed to prove 
that boots are better sewn without wax than with it." 

In answer to this I would say I have not made a statement 
that I had not learned the truth of years previous to its pub- 
lication. My first experiment in sole sewing with a lubri- 
cated cotton thread was made in 1878. One shoe of the pair 
was sewed on the McKay machine with a cotton thread that 
had been previously soaked in melted tallow, the other shoe 
was stitched with a linen thread and waxed in the usual way. 
The former was always flexible and comfortable, and wore 
out the sole and a pair of taps, while the other ripped within 
four mouths. I have been wearing test shoes in this man- 
ner ever since. On one pair I used boiled linseed-oil with 
like good results. Some three years ago, Charles Good- 
year, Jr., the inventor of the Goodyear machine (that Mr. 
Churchill refers to) kindly oflered to bottom a pair of uppers 
for me. I furnished a ball of tallow stiftened with twenty- 
five per cent, of beeswax with which to do one shoe, and 



MR. GOODYEAR LEARNS A LESSON. .59 

gave him the privilege of doing the other with vs^ax. I di- 
rected Mr. Goodyear to use much less tension on the tallowed 
cotton-thread than upon his waxed linen thread. Mr. Good- 
year conducted the experiment in person. The shoes were 
made as directed, his shoe being sewed with good wax and as 
solid as possible. The pair was finished and exposed to the 
sun in his office window for a week, when he made the dis- 
covery that the shoe sewed with cotton and about half as 
much tension as was put upon the waxed thread, showed no 
crack between the sole and welt, while the solid sewing with 
wax did. Mr. Goodj^ear then hastened to Lynn with the 
shoes in hopes of getting a solution of the mystery, which 
was solved as we shall show further on. Mr. Goodyear 
became much interested in the matter, and we supplied 
him with cotton sufficient to make a pair of test boots for 
himself and his sons, and while those were being made he 
became impatient for results and devised a more speedy way 
of testing the value of cotton as compared with linen, which 
ingenious devices are illustrated in Chapter II. Mr. Good- 
year had been seeking to get rid of the cracking of the fin- 
ished edge, exposing the joint betw^een the welt and sole, 
and my pair of test shoes made on his machine furnished a 
solution of a difficult problem. Now we offer this in proof 
that more solid sewing can be done without wax than with 
it, while it required much less tension. 

Ever since the advent of the Howe stitching machine, 
probably nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every one 
thousand pairs of shoe uppers have been stitched with dry 
thread, and mainly with silk (the most slippery of all 
threads), and if wax is important anywhere, it is much more 
so in the upper than in the sole of a shoe. As previously 
stated, the real value of wax anywhere is to be determined 
by its adhesive qualities at the time the stitches are woi^n off, 
so as to require its auxiliary aid in holding the soles from 
coming apart, and if at that time it is possible to find any 
wax at all (hard or soft) then is the time and the only time 



60 WAX, LIKE POLICE, WHEN NEEDED, NOT TO BE FOUND. 

to test its holding qualities, for until then, however good the 
Avax may have been, there could have been no possible use 
for it, as the whole stitches held without it, and while the 
shoes were comparatively new, wax was quite detrimental in 
causing the bottoms to be unnecessarily stitF and inflexible. 

The Goodyear machine is better adapted to carry hard wax 
or soft wax (or no wax) than any sole-sewing machine tak- 
ing the loop stitch, for one reason among others, that a wax 
tank located near the needle forms a part of the machine, 
and the thread passing directly from the boiling wax to the 
needle with but a short intervening space, and that space be- 
ing hot also, the wax serves a much better purpose as a 
lubricant, as it is not subjected to the same chilling eft'ect of 
surrounding atmosphere as in the McKay. 

While Mr. Goodyear fully endorses the cotton thread and 
anti-wax theory, yet he cannot aftbrd to oppose any person's 
prejudices in favor of the use of linen or wax. 

When Mr. Goodyear found the tallowed thread with only 
half the usual tension had drawn the sole to the welt so solid 
as not to show the crack in the edge between them, after the 
shoe had become seasoned, he set about making a substitute 
for wax by putting rubber in the place of resin. Some such 
composition he thought might furnish suflicient adhesive 
quality, while it might at the same time act as a lubricant. 
At that time (some three years ago) he was fully imbued 
with the supposed importance of wax, and hence he sought 
for an adhesive substitute, but he soon saw that to oppose 
the time-honored use of wax, and the universal prejudice in 
its favor, would cost him a much greater eflbrt than would 
be required in the introduction of his machine. As his ma- 
chine was provided with greatly improved facilities for the 
use of wax. and therefore having nothing to fear from com- 
petitors, he wisely concluded to make no stir about it, but let 
anybody else who chose, work out the anti-wax millenium. 

In this connection I wish to notice Mr. Churchill's closing- 
remark, to wit : 



VERY QUESTIONABLE PROPOSITION. 



61 



" A tbread waxed with an oily, soft wax will not bear half 
so much tension as a thread waxed with a good, firm wax." 

Now, unless we put a wrong construction upon that sen- 
tence, he expresses an important truth, and just what we are 
contending for. We do not think he means to say that a 
thread dressed with a " good. Arm wax" is twice as strong as 
the same thread dressed with " an oily, soft wax," as such a 
statement would not only be exceedingly foolish, but abso- 
lutely false as well as a glaring inconsistency. We, ;there- 
fore,' interpret this sentence to mean just exactly what the 
words imply, and proceed to illustrate the truth of it by the 
following sketch. We here show a shoe being stitched on the 




REPRESENTS A SHOE BEING STITCHED ON IHE HORN OF A 
MCKAY MACHINE. 



horn of a McKay machine, the needle having risen to nearly 
its highest point, and by its lift on the loop HH is drawing 
home the preceding one. In the next sketch the needle has 



R2 WHY WAX IS DETRIMENTAL IN SOLE SEWING. 

cast oft" the loop S S\ and is returning within it to the inside 
of the shoe to hook up another ; and during this operation 
that loop is left standing, with the soles of the shoe between 
it and any heat from the light in the horn, and the wax, if 
" firm," becomes more or less set, and will require a tremen- 
dous pull to start it in motion at all, and much more to cause 
it to be, drawn down as tight as it requires to be in order to 
bring the outer and inner soles together sufficiently solid to 
prevent their working and cutting off" the thread, as usual. 
If, however, the wax is of the "soft and oily" kind, the 
same tension exerted in the first instance would cut the 
leather completely in two between the needle holes. Hence 
it is that one-half the usual tension, if exerted on a luhri- 
cated thread, will do far more execution in drawing the 
stitches in solid, while with the " firm " wax it requires much 
more than either the needle or thread will stand to make 
the same sufficiently solid for anything like medium durabil- 
ity, notwithstanding the fact that the hole made by a No. 8 
needle will admit tv'elve six-cord threads, such as are usually 
used in sewing with a No. 8 needle. We proved this con- 
clusively by a simple experiment. (See illustration on 
page 26.) 

Now, as shown, there is a very great disparity between the 
size of the hole made by the needle and the thread that is 
drawn into it, and but for this difference no sewing could be 
done with a waxed thread on a McKay machine, owing to the 
necessity of starting and pulling that standing loop S S in by 
the pull the needle gives to the next loop when it rises again. 
(See Fig. 13.) 

If Mr. Churchill was sewing by hand, and having made a 
fresh thread should give it one pull and then stop long- 
enough to light his pipe before completing the stitch, he 
would fail, perhaps, in starting it again, and he would hardly 
be guilty of taking another stitch to start the former one with : 
but this is precisely the way in which every stitch is taken by 
the McKay machine, and hence it is that the large hole, soft 



AN ABSURD THEORY SHOWN UP. 



63 



imx and hot room become indispensable in stitching a tight 
seam. The idea that the needle gets sufficiently hot to warm 
the atmosphere siyronnding the standiriif loop and keep the 
wax melted, is rather far fetched to say the least, since it 
does not stop long enough for heat to radiate ; and in any 




Fig. 13. 



event such a mere trifle of heat would be fanned away by the 
rapid motion of the needle bar. Besides, when the loop is 
required to move, the needle is half an inch above it, where 
its heat could by no possibility be imparted to the loop when 
it was being drawn in. (See Fig. 12.) Mr. Churchill says 
the thread passes through the hot needle so rapidly that it 
has no time» to get cold. Now when the thread passes 
through the hook, the latter is on its way up, and when it 
gets up to its highest point, it stops, and returns for an- 
other loop, leaving the first one standing and waiting in the 
cold atmosphere of the room for the return of the needle 
to pull it down. Had Mr. Churhill said that stitching was 
done so rapidly that the wax had no time to . chill, he would 



64 MR. CHURCHILL DISPLAYS HIS IGNORANCE. 

not have betraj^ed his ignorance of the workings of the ma- 
chine, and his remark wonld liave been well worthy of notice, 
for although wax chills instantaneously, yet it becomes less 
and less chilled in proportion to the rapidity with wdiich the 
stitching is done. It could never be done so rapidly, how- 
ever, that the wax would not chill in a draft of air, even in 
summer weather, with the mercury at 80°, and this would be 
more emphatically true with Clmrchill's ''Jirm wax," on 
which he lays so much stress. 

As previously stated, it is only after the sole has been worn 
down to the bottom of the channel that wax can possibly 
serve any useful purpose, and it has been already proven 
that then no wax is present. 

The shoe manufacturer finds, therefore, that he has put up 
with a great deal of nastiness, and besmeared and blistered 
the feet of his patrons, besides subjecting himself to the cost 
and mortification of having his goods fail prematurely, or 
turned l)ack on his hands, all for the nonsensical notion that 
wax is important, when it is susceptible of demonstration 
that it is not only absolutely worthless, but very detrimental, 
and especially so in sewing with the McKay machine. 

We do n't take all this trouble so much for the purpose of 
answering Mr. Churchill as to call the attention of shoe man- 
ufacturers to the importance of this matter. The great dis- 
advantage with which the McKay machine draws in the 
stitch renders waxing a very costly process, on account of 
tlie various ways in which manufacturers are subjected to 
needless losses, expense and inconvenience. 

For the purpose of illustrating the theory of the stitcli 
more clearly, let us hitch a good team of horses to one end 
of a soft, flexible rope, and set an «X12 inch post in the 
ground, such post to represent the shape and proportion of 
the leather between the needle holes. Now we will wind the 
rope once around the post, and station a man of ordinary 
strength at the other end of the rope to hold as against the 
(h-auglit of the horses. He may easily defy the team to start 



ILLUSTRATING THE WAX DIFFICULTIES. 65 

the rope or pull it out of his hands. We will now give the 
rope a good coat of Churchill's " firm " wax, and substitute 
a small boy for the man, and the former will be able to hold 
the rope with one hand as against the team. Now let us 
build a fire around the post, so as to melt the wax and cause 
it to act as a lubricant^ and the team will walk right away 
with both man and boy. This heat around the post is just 
what the McKay and other kindred machines are provided 
with, but unfortunately the shoe comes between the fire and 
the thread, cutting ofl' the heat just at the point where it 
is most needed, which is like removing the Are to a point 
just aft the post, and then setting a high board fence between 
the fire and the man, with an auger hole in the fence to pass 
the rope through. The wax is melted as the rope passes 
over the fire, thence through the hole in the fence, and then 
it comes to a dead stop, and in a comparatively cold atmos- 
phere, while the team is backed up to get a fresh hold. 
Again see Figs. 12 and 13, in which the needle represents the 
team. 

Now, the thread stands still just half the time, and that, 
too, on the wrong side of the fence, where the atmosphere is 
chilling. And to start the thread in motion again after it has 
stood until the wax has become more or less chilled taxes the 
needle, thread and machine to the utmost, causing an unnec- 
essary waste of needles, machine parts, and the use of a 
much larger thread than is needed. The worst of all, how- 
ever, is that sluggish movement of the thread which makes 
a slack seam as compared with a lubricated thread, and when 
it is found that all that manufacturers have suffered in years 
past on account of soles ripping, is directly traceable to the 
use of wax, they will seek with avidity the substitute we are 
now advocating. 

There is nothing in the making of a shoe that requires 
more of scientific attention, care and watchfulness than the 
wax ; it is extremely sensitive and susceptible to change by 
the slightest variation in the temperature of the stitching 



66 UNIFORM TEMPERATURE NECESSARY. 



room. Tlie stitching commences at the blowing of the 
whistle and then all is cold and stiff, and you get a very dif- 
ferent quality of shoe from that done an hour or two later, 
when the room has become thoroughly warmed and every- 
thing as hot a*s possible about the machine. Hence it is that 
manufacturers have seen some of their shoes fail in which 
the same size and quality of thread was used and stitched on 
the same machine, and by the same workman, and the same 
number of stitches to the inch, as others of their make that 
stood well. To use wax safely or to have uniform work a 
uniform tempe7riture is absolutely indispensable, and to get this 
every factory should have a separate room partitioned off for 
the sole sewing, and the heat should be regulated at what- 
ever temperature the wax requires, and should be kept stead- 
ily at that without the variation of a quarter of a degree as 
indicated by a good thermometer. If 95° is too hot for the 
operator then let him temper his wax so that 75° will answer 
as well ; shoes stitched under such conditions would be uni- 
form ; and if one customer complained of soles ripping off, 
all ought to, and if all complain, then soften your wax or 
fire-up, or what is more sensible discard wax altogether. 

When a shoe comes back to you ripped opposite the ball of 
the great toe where even the channel cover has not yet worn 
off, you will conclude that wax had nothing to do in holding 
the sole on. Cast your eye back to the breast of the heel, 
and if the seam is not ripped there, you may conclude that it 
was not because wax was used, for in neither place had any- 
thing occurred to require it to do any holding at all. Then 
if you desire you can go a little farther and make the old 
shoe worth a thousand times more to you ripped than if 
whole. Pick the thread out and see if there is any good wax 
on it, and if you do n't And any good wax, look for some 
poor wax, and if you do n't find any at all, then you will 
naturally come to the conclusion that you have fooled away 
a great deal of your valuable time and good money. On the 
other hand, if you should lind anything like wax, and can 



DOES WAX STRENGTHEN A THREAD ? 67 

find that it is, or can be, or lias been of any service, then try 
to determine whether that service will compensate you for 
all you have endured in the use of it. In this way you will 
soon arrive at some healthy conclusions as to what to do in 
the future regarding its use. 

To return to Mr. Churchill. It will be noticed that he 
claims that wax adds strength to the thread. If it does, 
there must be some reason why it does. I confess that I 
can see none, unless it may be that in the process of waxing, 
the twist is rendered more even by straightening out some 
strands that may have been left loose and kinky, compelling 
each and every strand to stand its full portion of strain. 
In such a case I can see that waxing would do good ; but the 
wax itself is the most brittle of all substances, except clear 
resin, and its strength amounts to nothing in and of itself. 
A string of it as large as the thread would either stretch out 
or break if subjected to a single ounce of weight. 

I have tried to make an impartial test of the question under 
discussion, by first procuring a ball of fresh shoe thread (No. 
10), and then wax from a custom boot maker, one who made 
his own wax and kept it in balls floating about in his tub, so 
that there could be no doubt about its being of regulation 
color, temper and quality; in fact, " the Simon pure article." 
I drew out a thread of two lengths, putting in six cords, and 
twisted it around a screw I had screwed into a bench for this 
purpose. After twisting the thread in the usual way, I wax- 
ed one-half of the thread from the screw to the end. I used 
a sponge on the other half, moistened with clear cold water. 
I then mied a coal hod partly full of pieces of iron, (see Fig. 
14), after which I set a hook in the casing of a door and 
placed the hook near enough to the upright to cause the 
spout to hit (see Fig. 15), and prevent the hod from turning 
and untwisting the thread, when the weight was applied. I 
tied one end of the thread to the hook overhead, and the 
other to a crane hook, upon which to hang the coal hod. I 
then lifted the hod on to the hook, and added weight little by 



68 



TEST SHOWING WHETHER IT DOES OR NOT. 



little until the thread broke. T then weighed the hod and 
contents, and I found it to be just forty-eight pounds. 



W 



r\ 




Fig. 14. 

MR. LASCELL'S METHOD OF TESTING WAXED THREADS. 

Upon examining- the thread I found it had parted in the 
middle, and where it was not waxed. In looking for some 



ILLUSTRATION OF TEST. 69 




Fig. 15. 
method employed to test the waxed and watered 

THREAD. 



70 CAUTIONARY MEASURES ADOPTED. 

reason why it should break just in the centre, I found that by 
not taking the thread off the screw when waxing, it had chafed 
by slipping every time I drew the wax back and forth, which 
would not have been the case had the wax been applied to 
both branches of the thread. I then drew off a fresh thread 
and twisted it through a loop of soft kid, putting the screw 
through two ends of it as shown in Fig. 16. I then waxed 




Fig. 16 
shows the method used in waxing test threads. 

a portion of the thread as before, and wet down the other 
half, and tying the thread in the hook applied the weight, 
which broke the thread after being suspended about half a 
minute. This time the thread parted within the knot where 
the ivaxed end was attached to the crane hook. In seeking 
some reason for its breaking there, I came to the conclusion 
that the knot had slipped when the weight was applied and 
produced friction. I tied the thread on again, using a fresh 
place higher up on the thread, and on applying the weight it 
broke about an inch and a quarter above the hook. I tried 
it again and again with like results, the thread breaking 
just about the same distance from the hook each time (see 
Fig. 17), where the hook and threads are shown full sizes. 

A continuation of the experiments might have developed 
different results, such as breaking the thread where there was 



THE FINAL RESULT OF THE TEST. 



71 



no wax ; but in such an event I cannot conceive tliat tlie wax 
could either cause the thread to break at a given strain or 
prevent it. The fact is, that in all McKay sewed shoes the 
thread never breaks nor slips out of the needle hole, large as 
it is ; but on the contrary, the thread is chiseled oft' by reason 




Fig. 17. 
hook and test threads represented full size. 



of the movement of the sharp edges of the sole leather 
against it, and this movement is caused by the seam having 
been left slack ; and the stitches have been left slack because 
of the imx, and the firmer the wax the more of slackness you 
will find, and the more certain the failure of the seam. 

Hence, it would seem that the greatest safety in McKay 
sewed work lies in the use of wax so soft as to render nuga- 
tory any conditions which ordinary wax imposes, and when 
you have come to that, you have a good lubricant, and when 
you use a lubricant, it is far better to adopt a perfectly clean 
one, and use parafflne instead. 



CHAPTER VIII 



PARAFFINE VS. WAX. 

Our English critics seem quite persistent in tlie discussion 
of the wax question. Their prejudices appear so deep 
seated and strong as to defy any amount of argument, and if 
tlie facts are against them it is all the worse for the facts, in 
their opinion, and we might as well undertake to change the 
course of the comet with a fan as to alter their ideas with 
reference to the use of wax. Nevertheless we welcome their 
criticisms as memoranda of points which would otherwise be 
left untouched. 

A nameless correspondent of the London Boot and Shoe 
Trades Journal delivers himself of the following, much of 
which has already been anticipated by our reply to Messrs. 
Churchill and Canham, yet we desire to give it the notice it 
deserves : 

" I have read the articles and correspondene on the ' Wax 
vs. Dry Thread ' question with a great deal of interest, al- 
though I am unable to agree Avith the arguments advanced. 
In the first place, he exhibits a strong preference for cotton 
over flax and hemp ; and, secondly, for paraffine and grease 
over wax. He also appears greatly in love with a large 
needle and a warm workshop, and does not object to have 
to draw up or tighten the stitches in his seam for some 
distance behind his needle. Much of this is, of course, op- 
posed to all modern principles of machine-work in general 
and loop-stitch w ork in particular. 

" In dealing with the question as to whether parafline or 
grease is superior to wax, we have to consider whether good 
pitch and resin are better repellents of w^et and protectors 
from the atmosphere than parafline, and if such is the case 
all Mr. Lascell's arguments fall to the ground. To my think- 
ing it needs but little acquaintance with the subject to an- 



ANSWERING AN ANONYMOUS CRITIC. 



swer this question. Paraffiiie, by its volatile nature, soon 
leaves the thread, and this immediately becomes dry and 
impoverished, and far weaker than if it had never been ap- 
plied. Perhaps it may not here be out of place to state the 
part that wax has played in the past, as this is not so generally 
known as it might he. If the thread was a very stout one, 
when half the number of strands had been cast off, a good 
coating was applied, and then the remainder was added, 
which received a complete covering; the thread was then 
twisted until it showed signs of recoil, when it was chafed 
with a piece of solid leather until the wax was sweated in ; 
here heat was generated by friction and was necessary to 
perfect the process. The result was a highly waterproof 
cord, immensely strong and when under proper control ex- 
ceedingly slippery. 

" Just a word or two as to how wax strengthens a thread. 
If Mr. Lascell will take a thread made in the manner de- 
scribed above and then get another unwaxed of the same 
thickness, soak the latter in parafhne for a week, or indeed 
for a month, and then hang them to a beam and suspend 
weights fairly until they break, he will find how great is the 
difference in their strength. Scientifically I cannot correctly 
describe how the strength is gained, but practically I know 
that the adhesiveness of the wax binds the fibres so closely 
that instead of a band of irregular surface with thousands of 
points of disunion, we have a firmly combined cord possess- 
ing the natural strength of the fibre, mechanically and chem- 
ically united in the most perfect manner. To me it is incom- 
prehensible that any one can doubt the cementing power of 
good wax, which when thoroughly applied to the entire 
surface of a thread can but have a highly beneficial effect." 

In replying to the first paragraph of the above, I have to 
say that the preference exhibited by me for cotton over flax 
and hemp, is based upon the fact that the former will endure 
from ten to twenty-five times more friction than the latter, 
and as this element is the principal feature to be considered 
in a thread after the seam is sewed, there can certainly be no 
reasonable objection to such preference. 

The most conclusive tests on this matter have been previ- 
ously given, and all who feel sufficient interest in the subject 
can make like tests for themselves. As to my being in love 



74 WE MUST CONFORM TO THE INEVITABLE. 

with a large needle, that is a misconception, as it is directly 
coiltrary not only to all my ideas of good sewing, but also to 
all my past endeavors to mitigate such evil tendencies which 
were inevitable in the McKay and kindred loop-stitch ma- 
chines. Witness my patent needle, illustrated and described 
on pages 23, 28 and 29, the principal feature of which was 
to enable any given size of needle to carry more thread, and 
the other was to leave the surface of the inner sole smooth, 
instead of punching out those ugly protuberances all along 
the line of sewing as is inevitable with the round blade 
needle. 

Where it becomes necessary to tighten stitches back of the 
needle, I do not of course ol)ject to its being done, and when 
our opponent states that " such is opposed to all loop-stitch 
work in particular," he only exposes his ignorance of sucli 
machine sewing, since it is utterly impossible to make suc- 
cessive stitches with the McKay machine upon any other 
])rinciple, and that being so, it then follows that in the use 
of wax, especially, the larger the needle hole, the softer the 
wax. and the hotter the machine and the room, the more 
solid will be the stitching with a given amount of tension. 

All users of the McKay machine liave suftered damages to 
a far greater extent than they are aware of by reason of the 
wax being too stiff, or the room too cold, or the needle too 
small, while that other condition, viz. : the hot machine, is 
the only one that has been properly complied with. Now if 
they would have only one of these conditions to look after, 
then let them use liquefied wax and have a good lubricant. 
My remarks on this head have been thought by our London 
critics to apply to hand work as well as to machine work, 
and I do not object, as I deem wax an unmitigated nuisance 
in any work, and the more I look into the matter, the more 
abominable it appears. And right here I have come to the 
second paragraph of our London friend's communication, 
which is supposed to settle the wax question by one simple 
proposition, viz. : 



LIGHT ON A DARK SUBJECT. 75 

' ' If good pitch and resin are better repellants than paraf- 
line, then Mr. Lascell's arugments fall to the ground." 

Well, now, let us turn the light on this proposition. In 
the first place, it is quite immaterial whether either one is a 
good repellant, as the better the repellant the worse it is for 
the thread and the boots. Whatever bad qualities may be 
attributed to good wax, that of its being a good repellant 
cannot be laid to its charge. Let us suppose wax to be 
perfection in that respect, indeed, absolutely impervious to 
moisture, and that you have stitched a pair of soles on with 
it. Now, the first week's, or possibly the first day's wear 
will have ground the wax all off" from the tops of the stitches 
(the interior of the thread is dry, of course), and it will soak 
full of moisture, and your impervious coating will retain it ; 
wherea,s, without the imperviousness of the coating, the sole 
leather, which dries very rapidly, would quickly draw all the 
moisture from the thread, which would always be the dryest 
of the two on account of the leather being such a rapid ab- 
sorbent. Indeed, its absorbing qualities are so strong that 
it begins to absorb the wax as soon as the two are brought in 
contact, and but a few weeks can have elapsed ere it has be- 
come so disintegrated that you could not possibly recognize 
it as the coating you put upon your thread. Besides, in or- 
der to retain your good wax coating you must keep your 
boots in a warm climate. It won't do to walk out on the 
frosty pavement or frozen ground in a zero atmosphere, for 
then the vibration of the sole will crumble your coating, and 
you will lose all its " repellant " qualities. The very nature 
of your best wax precludes the possibility of its remaining 
whole, even though the sole did not act upon it as an absorb- 
ent. This is easily proven (if proof were needed) by strik- 
ing a ball of wax in a room even where the mercury stands 
at 80° and seeing it fly in a dozen or more pieces. Such be- 
ing the nature of the identical wax our London critic prizes, 
how can it be expected that any of it would remain as a coat- 



76 SOLE LEATHER A RAPID ABSORBENT OF WAX. 

ing on a thread subjected to the movement of the soles sewed 
together with it in an atmosphere more chilling than that of 
the room in which the boots were made, to say nothing of 
cold winter weather? Whatever its "repelling" quality may 
be as it lays -on a freshly made thread, it is partly lost l)y 
friction in stitjching, and the balance is soon gone when the 
boots are put to service. This is as it should be, in order to 
better preserve the thread by the rapid absorption of the wax 
by the sole leather. You may reply to this, that your seam 
is so solid that there can be no working of the outsole 
against the thread to disturb the wax coating, and further 
that there is no possibility of the thread moving in the awl- 
hoie. If the former be true, then you will have a l)oot that 
will not squeak. Squeaking is a sure indication of a move- 
ment, and a movement is far more liable to occur in hand- 
work than in McKay machine work, as the outsole sets oft" 
farther from the insole, and the farther removed it is the 
greater the leverage on the seam, and tendency to move and 
chafe the thread every time the sole is bent in walking. But 
for the soles being moulded to the spring of the last, thus 
preserving that much of the curve until the boot is finished , 
hand-work would be less dural^le than McKay machine work 
as a rule, for much of the form of the last is lost in the lat- 
ter by withdrawing the last and transferring the shoe to the 
horn. Much, too, depends upon the skill of the operator 
in handling the shoe in stitching, to prevent the stretching 
out at the commencement and fulling in at the close, leaving 
the sole puffed up and otherwise so cramped as to produce 
extra strain upon the seam in wearing. This, together with 
the fact that the natural spring of the last is lost in the 
stitching, causes the action of the sole on the thread to be 
far more severe than it otherwise Avould be, thus increasing 
the danger of rendering prematurely pervious your impervi- 
ous (?) "Kepellant." 

Our anonymous critic says that "paraftine, hy its volatile na- 
ture, soon leaves the thread which immediatelv becomes drv 



i 



OUR CRITIC REFERRED TO A FIRST-CLASS GROCERY. 77 

and impoverished and far weaker than if it had never been 
applied." I can 't see liovv^ parafRne could add anything by 
its presence or impoverish the thread by its absence. The 
fact is that the sooner the paraffine steps out after the stitch 
is laid the better. All I recommend its use for is, firstly, to so 
stiffen the thread that when the loop is cast off the hook, it 
will not drop down in the way of the returning needle, and 
hinder the otherwise rapid sewing, and secondly, for its lu- 
bricating quality which makes the thread run freely and pre- 
vents it being chafed by its passage through the hook and 
the soles. As to the " volatility " of paraffine, an allusion in 
the last paragraph of our critic's remarks about soaking 
thread in it for a week or month, shows that he does n't 
understand yet w^liat paraffine is, and for his especial benefit 
I would respectfully refer him to some first-class grocery 
where he can purchase a " loax candle " into which he can set 
the edge of his thumb nail and learn that the volatility of par- 
affine is about the same as that of beeswax, and to melt it 
would require about the same degree of heat as the latter, 
so he will doubtless excuse us from standing over a fire for 
a few weeks to watch a pot of melted paraffine in order to 
prove the relative strength of a thread thus soaked or waxed, 
as neither one could by anj'- possibility add any strength. 

But he goes on to tell " the part wax has played in the past 
and which is not so generally known as it might be," probably 
because it was only done in an isolated case in a custom 
shop, and that only on "a very stout thread " where half the 
strands were drawn ofi' and waxed, and then the other half 
ditto, and then the two were twisted together, etc. Now if 
he had divided his strands into three parts instead of two, 
and twisted each separately aiid then twisted all together, he 
w^ould have made a "cable cord," the compound twist of 
which would have made a much stronger cord than if the 
whole of the strands had been drawn off in a single bunch 
and twisted in regular shoe maker style. This, however, 
is trenching upon the trade of the rope maker who increases 



SOME OMINOUS FIGURES. 



the tensile strength of a given weight of material by the 
amount of labor he puts into his cordage, involving as it 
does various styles of compound twist and with no thought 
of adding any additional strength by ivaxing. 

It is highly probable that our London friend may liud that 
his cocoanut will yield this kind of milk, for he says " scien- 
tifically he cannot correctly describe how the extra strength 
of his thread is gained." He will find by experimenting that 
he can get a firmer twist with water than with wax, and like- 
wise that the ticist and not the vmx is Avhat adds the extra 
strength. His rubbing his thread with a piece of leather and 
thus warming in the wax by friction, bears no comparison to 
the machine method of boiling it in, and yet you can 't find 
any of this wax after the shoe has been worn three weeks. 

But we will suppose that wax added twenty-five per cent, 
additional strength. All of this would be of no use, since 
the thread has ten times more tensile strength before being 
waxed than can be appropriated by either the maker or wearer 
of the shoe, as a few figures will demonstrate. Suppose 
your welt to be eighteen inches long and that your inseam 
thread will pull 60 pounds, and you put five stitches to 
the inch. You have then got over two tons and a half of 
holding strength to support that welt. To be exact, it is 
5,400 pounds. Now of what earthly use would it be to add 
three-fourths of a ton more to that provided that wax would 
do it? Then when you stitch the sole to the welt you have a 
smaller thread that will pull say 45 pounds, and you put eight 
stitches to the inch, you will then have over three tons, or 
6,4(i0 pounds, to lift an outsole that weighs less than a 
(juarter of a pound. 

In view of all this anxiety about what little strength 
wax may possibly add to a shoe thread, it is refreshing to 
witness the perfect confidence of a man bending low in a 
pair of modern skin tight pants, with but a mere spider's 
web of thread, thinly coated with beeswax. What a risk 
this man assumes as compared with the one who has tons of 



wentworth's test shoes illustrated. 79 

tensile strength wherewith to lift a quarter of a pound of 
sole leather. And with all this holding strength the soles rip 
whether stitched by hand or by machine, not, however, because 
of any lack of tensile strength, but because of the working of 
the leather against the stitches, cutUiig them off between the 
soles very rapidly (owing to the brash, woody nature of 
flax), leaving the stitches all in place with whatever of ten- 
sile strength it had una];)iwopriated, and if your good wax 
had added ten tons to the strength of the thread the result 
would have been all the same. 

Our critic says that when his big thread was ''under proper 
control" it was "■exceedingly slippery." This is accounted 
for from the fact of its presenting a corrugated surface, 
more like a rope than an ordinary shoe thread. This lessened 
the outer friction surface by more than two-thirds, and its 
slipperiness would have been manifest under any kind of 
" control." 

Let us present an illustration of two shoes which embodies 
all the facts herein or heretofore presented on the sulijects of 
Cotton vs. Linen, and Paraffine vs. Wax. 




Fig. 18. 

heavy shoe. soles sewed with cotton, and holding 
firm after wearing out five pairs of half soles. 



In Fig. 18, we show a heavy shoe, sewed with cotton, and 
made at C. A. Wentworth's factory in Lynn, for his own use. 



80 MRS. BALCOM'S boot. 

He put on at the outset a pair of the heaviest outsoles, and. 
after wearing them out, has worn out five pair's of half soles 
besides. As one pair after another was put on, each in 
succession was lapped a little farther on to the shank until 
the fifth paiv reached within two inches of the heel. On 
opening- the channel, tlie thread looks clean and fresh, and 
the scAving is as solid as when first done, showing not the 
sligiitest indication of ripping or giving out in any w^ay. 
This shoe is one of the pair referred to on page 20. The 
same was also noticed in the closing sentence of the article 
as copied into The London Boot and Shoe Trades Journal of 
July 1 (1882), as having been stitched with a small No. 2() 
fourteen-corded cotton tliread, which was about the same 
size as Barl)()ur's four-corded linen, and lubricated with 
parafirtne. 




Fig. 19. 
showing ladies' button boot (soles sewed with co'i- 

ION) worn through, and thread on THIN 
SIDE, HAVING APPE.'LRANCE OF PEGS. 

Fig. 19 is one of a pair of ladies' button ])oots, made at the 
same establishment by the foreman thereof, for liis wife who 
weighs one liundred and eighty pounds. Mr. Balcom said 
tliat lie could never make her a pair of regular McKay bot- 
tomed shoes that would not rip before the soles Avere half 
worn out, until he tried the cotton thread dressed with par- 



A NEW ERA RAPIDLY DAWNING. 81 

afline. It would be difficult to And any liand-made goods to 
stand as well as these, with linen thread however strong, or 
wax however good. 

When a practical shoe manufacturer (Mr. C. A. Went- 
worth) , who had operated a McKay machine for many years 
for the old well-known firm of Bancroft & Purinton, and 
who now stitches most of his own shoes, had practically de- 
monstrated the truth of all I have written on this subject, to 
the extent of supplying a large retail trade of his own, as 
well as supplying a Boston retail house with shoes stitched 
with cotton and paraffine, as he must continue to do to 
avoid doss hy his guarantees, it ought certainly to inspire 
hope in the breast of every shoe manufacturer in the land 
that the full fruition of the anti-linen and wax-end era is 
rapidly dawning. And when a man like Mr. Wentworth, 
who does an almost exclusive retail business, and is so situ- 
ated as to hear from every guaranteed shoe, can say as he 
does, that he saves ninety-five per cent, of the losses he was 
formerly subjected to by the use of linen and wax, it is a 
^•uarantee that this new era is a very important one, and that 
its dawning will confer a blessing upon millions of consum- 
ers as well as the manufacturers of shoes. 




CHAPTER IX 



COMMON SENSE VS. NONSENSE. 

Mk. a. S. Caiihain, who has once l)efore in the London 
Boot and Shoe Trades Jougial attempted to break the force 
of xwy remarks on the wax subject, again comes to the. front 
in a recent issue of that paper, armed with ridicule, the 
weapon usually adopted ))y those whose facts fail to prove 
serviceable to them. 

He savs : 



" Much as I appreciate a good needle, I beg to differ with 
Mr. Lascell ' that the strength of the thread in a shoe de- 
pends entirely on the quality of needles used.' If Mr. 
Lascell had not been a modest man he would have told us 
this before, but Ijeing l)ashful this statement and his exit are 
contemporaneous." 



In reply to this, I have to say that this matter formed the 
basis of the first one of this series of articles, and as it is a sub- 
ject of so much importance to all users of sewing machines, 
it will bear repeating often, indeed it should be written in 
letters of gold and pasted in the hat of every manufacturer 
of shoes, gloves and clothing in the land. The reader is 
referred to the first page of the body of this work. 

Now the facts above referred to show in the most unmis- 
takable manner that it is impossible to have the same strength 
of thread in the shoe that the same thread had on the spool, and 
if there is any one thing that all sewing machine users should 
be especially thankful for, it is that Mr. Canham's remarks 
have again called the reader's attention to them. 



I 



STRENGTH OF THREAD REDUCED IN SEWING. 83 

Manufacturers are very particular about the quality of the 
stock they buy, and if a thread pulls ten pounds, they natu- 
rally conclude that they have all of that original strength in 
the seam, but investigation will show that, all other things 
being equal, the percentage of strength remaining in the shoe 
depends on the quality of the needle used. Stitchers know 
these facts by daily experiences, for they are often heard to 
complain, " My machine weighs the thread." They do not ap- 
pear to realize that it is the fault of the needle, which has so 
nearly ruined the thread that it will not bear the tension in 
drawing in the stitch, and that the frequent breaking of the 
thread results therefrom. It seems very remarkable that 
after so many years' use of sewing machines, a fact so 
notable and startling should have escaped notice. 

" Horse sense "'has become a common expression, but it 
would seem that manufacturers do not posse^ very much of 
it, notwithstanding the opportunities they enjoy for learning 
from daily and I might say hourly experience ; hence it is 
not to be wondered at that Mr. Canham should pick out that 
idea of the needle not having anything to do with the quality 
of thread in the shoe as a subject of ridicule, nor that he 
should say that : 

■' No more damaging remark against the use of the McKay 
machine could be framed than the one Mr. Lascell gives, if 
his premises are true. What can be thought of the sug- 
gestion he makes of leaving stitches unpulled in and then 
trying to tighten up afterwards?" 

Now, this is exactly what the McKay and all kindred ma- 
chines do, because that method is inherent in the machine, 
and you might as well expect the potato to eat the Irish- 
man as to see a stitch drawn in in any other way than b}^ the 
power exerted on the next. All users of the McKay machine 
know this, and it is passing strange they cannot see that to 
make solid work with wax they must have it soft, and the 
softer the better ; and have the machine and room hot, and 
the hotter the better ; and the needle large, and the larger the 



84 MACHINE SEWED BETTER THAN HAND MADE. 

better, until you exceed the limit which the leather will per- 
mit. Now, as all this is contrary to the common sense 
method of stitching, it has been my endeavor to lift that ma- 
chine out of its rut, to place it as a stitcher on a level with 
the best of hand workmen, and to produce with it a more 
flexible and durable shoe bottom than the hand-made. So I 
reverse all this by using a soft compressible cotton thread in 
a small V-shaped needle-hole, and lubricant that shall cause 
the thread to pull in quite easily, even though the strength 
be exerted on the succeeding stitch. It is only because the 
public have so long been "hood-winked" by tradition and 
ignorance that they still adhere so tenaciously to such a dauby 
and useless substance as wax, when it is as impossible to 
trace its usefulness in a shoe as it is to find teeth in the jaws 
of a hen. 

When a boot rips in the shank or fore part, the stitches 
are always found in place, whether waxed or not, and the 
stitches have to be picked out of both welt and sole, and 
wherever a rip has occurred it has always been where wax 
could never have been of the slightest nse in preventing it. 
I challenge all the shoemakers in the world to prove the con- 
trary, and the only kind of proof needed is old boots. Old 
theories and traditions are valueless as compared with old 
shoes, and both can be had in any quantity. The former are 
"hoodwinking" and speculative, Imt the latter are reliable 
and trustworthy. 

I would not by these remarks deter any one from express- 
ing his views, however freely, by ridicule or otherwise, as I 
wish to have my opponents put themselves squarely on a 
record which, in the near future, will become interesting- 
reading. 

Mr. Canham will douljtless admit that all the ripping of shoe 
bottoms that has ever occurred has been of waxed thread- 
work, and a little investigation will show him that of McKay 
machine work in particular, at least three pairs have ripped 
for one that has held till the soles were worn out. 



canham's universal panacea. 85 

And now, altlioiigli limited as to space, I will quote Mr. 
Canliam's "Universal Panacea" for all these difficulties, to wit : 

" A balance of power both in tensile strength of thread 
and resistance of material must be sought for ; the tension 
of the machine when properly equalized should be just below 
the breaking strength of the thread, and length of stitch just 
sufficient to bear the strain without breaking through." 

What a wonderful exhibition of penetrative power is here 
displayed, in stating just what has been instinctively prac- 
ticed from the most ancient barbarian days to the present 
time! But when he adds that " then the smaller the needle 
the larger the thread, and the more wax the better the shoe," 
he is as wide of the mark as he could possibly get. It is the 
exact language to use in describing how not to make solid 
work, especially with the McKay machine, and if that is their 
plan of stitching with the McKay machine it is not to be 
wondered at that it is so little used in Europe as compared 
with America. 

It is not a little singular that on the very day I received 
the Boot and Shoe Trades Journal, containing Mr. Canham's 
ridicule of the cotton and parafflne question, we received a 
telegram from Ohio ordering prepared cotton for sole sew- 
ing ; also an order from Maine and from New York, and on 
the same day a Lynn retail shoe house caused one of their 
neAv trade circulars to be pushed under our door, announcing 
as a leading feature of their make of boots and shoes that 
" all were sewed with elastic unwaxed thread." This re- 
minded me forcibly that in 1840, when the subject of cross- 
ing the Atlantic by steam was uppermost in men's minds, an 
English lecturer was showing the absurdity of the idea to 
an applauding audience, when the newsboys were cryins' 
" Extras," announcing the arrival at Liverpool of the Ameri- 
can steamship " Great Western." So now as then hard facts 
prove to be too formidable for theories to butt against, and 
emphasizes the saying that " Truth is mighty and must pre- 
vail." 



CHAPTER X 



C A N H A M VS. L A S C E I. L . 

Ix a recent issue of the London Boot and Shoe Trades 
Journal, Mr. Canham replied to an article of mine which ap- 
peared in the July num))ei' of the Shoe and Leather Manufac- 
turer, and in the course of liis letter complained that I did not 
quote him fully. (See Chapter III.) To avoid any further 
comj^laint on this score, I now siive his last letter to that 
journal in full : 

" With your permission I will make another remark or two 
on this subject. In Mr. Lascell's last letter, 'he starts by 
laying down the law that the strength of a seam principalh- 
depends on the thread's power to resist friction after it is 
sewn. I think he will not object to this rendering of his 
idea, and as it has more the appearance of reason than any 
other of his propositions, I will look at it tirst. 

"To begin with, I deny his assertion that cotton thread will 
bear from ten to twenty-live per cent, more friction than 
flax, that is, if the flax thread is properlj^ made ; and it is no 
hard matter to obtain good flax thread in England, Avhatever 
it may be in America. Tlie friction idea of a seam is a sad 
humiliation to the makers of sewing machines. A logical il- 
lustration : What would l)e thought of a boiler smith allow- 
ing for friction in his joints, or the shipwright in his seams, 
or the coach l)uilder in his work? The idea, aim and end of 
all joining together of su))stauces is to attain as nearl}^ as 
possible the nature of a good, welded joint, produced by a 
smith, or clever piece of glued work by a joiner. If there 
is to ))e elasticity it must not be gained at the expense of the 
i-igidity necessary for thorough endurance, and I make bold 
to aftirm that in fair hand work, friction as a cause of failure 
was a thing almost unknown. I am well aAvare that even in 
hand work, especially hi the wholesale trade, large awls, 
light threads and as little soft wax as possible produced the 



I 



THE RULING PASSION STRONG IN DEATH. 87 



same results as the large hole, hot room and soft wax which 
Mr. Lascell in his early papers seemed so much to prefer to 
tight sewing. But he now repudiates this system. All his 
sympathies seem to go out to the sufferings of the users of the 
McKay machine. Well may he exclaim in such company : ' I 
deem wax an unmitigated nuisance in any work.' 

" In a former communication, I stated that good wax pro- 
tected any thread, inasmuch as it preserved it from the rot- 
ting influences of air and moisture. It does not require a 
very practical or acute mind to imderstand the significance 
of this proposition, but Mr. Lascell demolishes it to his own 
satisfaction most contemptuously 133=' stating that the better 
repellant wax may be, the worse it is for the thread, inas- 
much as when the head or surface is worn off the stitch the 
Avet can get into it and cannot get out. May I ask him if he 
ever took the sole off an old hand-sewn boot, say of moder- 
ate substance, sewn with a ten-cord of flax thread, ten 
stitches to the inch, with a fine French or square awl. in 
which proper wax has been used? and if he has, what was 
his experience of the thread? For my own part I have had 
thousands through my hands and under my supervision, 
and no part of a repairer's work was more laborious than get- 
ting the old sole off, notwithstanding the expedients used. 
If practicable, the edge of the sole was cut down slanting to 
the welt so that a great portion of the stitching thread was 
taken away, and then a good strong awl for leverage was 
necessary before sole and welt would separate. Thoroughly 
waxed thread, even after one or two or even seven years' 
wear, cuts like iron, and would speedily destroy the edge 
of a knife. Did Mr. Lascell ever try to pick the stitches 
out of an old welt of this kind, previous to re-sewing the new 
sole on? If he did, the difficulty of the task, no doubt, gave 
him his disgust of good wax, I know all dressed leather has 
a tendency to decompose wax of am' kind, but it could not 
take it out of a well-made thread. Years ago, when the 
Wellington boot was in general wear, we often had them to 
graft, and in taking the old boot to pieces we had good op- 
portimity of testing the value of wax; frequently the seat 
was torn in trying to draw out the stitches, and even in the 
closing seam, the stitches often had to be picked out singly 
with an awl. Mr. Lascell's argument all goes on the as- 
sumption that it is impossible to sew a seam that will not 
allow vibration, or to fill a hole so that water cannot get at 
the thread. In direct contradiction to his statements I assert 
that the strength of a seam depends on the lateral strengtli 



88 MR. LASCELL NOT INFALLIBLE. 

of the thread, as in proportion to the strain it will bear — 
which is consequent on passing through a small hole, and 
allowing the materials to be drawn tirmly together — will be 
the endurance of the work. Of course, flax has a coarser 
flbre than cotton, and its strength is double the proportion 
of its relative difference ; the vegetable, flufty floss of cotton 
gives it a pre-eminence for the purposes of the seamstress, 
but constitutes its unfitness for the rougher processes of 
boot making. 

■' As regards the tv^'ist in a shoemaker's thread, Mr. Lascell 
is not infallible. A very sharp twisted cable-laid thread 
breaks easier under some conditions th^n a looser cord. If 
he wishes to test this, let him take a sharp made whip-cord 
and an ordinary twine, well made, of the same weight, and 
having given them a hitch, let him subject them to a sharp 
jerk, and he will find his sharp cable-laid thread the weaker 
of the two. Up to a certain point twisting is a source of 
strength ; after this is reached the cross-lying fibres saw 
each other. Few had better opportunities for testing this 
than old hand bootmakers ; they knew to a twist when their 
thread was perfect; whilst a loose thread was weak and 
slovenly, one too sharply twisted would invariably kink and 
break. As to incorporating wet with the thread, Mr. 
Lfiscell appears quite unaware that wax may be thoroughly 
driven through the thread, and so it may be done now 
mechanically when a proper machine is found for its use; 
the strands can be separately waxed, twisted and chafed, and 
made so thoroughly compact that neither air nor water will 
afiect them for a long time. Then as to his knowledge of 
wax. Can he find a bootmaker that w^ould use the brittle 
wax he talks about? Good wax is tough and pliant, and yet 
as adhesive as glue. 

" What an imposing array of figures he uses to show that 
even his weak cotton thread possesses twenty times more 
strength than is required to hold a sole on, if it'were not for 
the sole working or sawing it through. Yet with so plain a 
solution before him he never dreams of staying the friction 
by making a tight seam tliat will not yield. * As to his seek- 
ing illustration for his friction in the squeaking of hand- 
sewed boots, it was not the surfaces of welt and sole that 
produced the sonnd, but the dry l)ottom filling which layer 
after layer worked with the action of the foot. A layer of 
bladder between these would have prevented the sound with- 
out extending the seam. I repeat that it is to the solidity of 
a seam that we nuist look for strength and it is to the lateral 



THE TRUE TEST OF THREADS. 89 

strength of the thread that we must trust for a lirmness that 
will not allow the edges of the sole or w^elt to saw. As soon 
as this action sets in there are hundreds of points of lever- 
age, and no thread could long survive the action. It is the 
expedient of incompetence to offer such a solution to so im- 
portant a question. There are machines in the market that 
can make and use such a thread as renders such attempts 
ridiculous. 

" In conclusion, I must beg Mr. Lascell, should he do me 
the honor of dissecting me before an American audience, to 
quote my entire letter, and not a mangled and mutilated ver- 
sion of it. I have tried not to put a strained meaning on his 
letter as truth, and neither egotism nor prejudice has been 
my prompter." 

Answering the first paragraph of the above, I have to 
thank Mr. Canham for a correct rendering of my views in 
this, that the true test of any thread is its ability to with- 
stand friction after it is scAvn. The usual pulling test is all 
well enough as determining the quality of any two or more 
brands of cotton, silk, or linen thread, but wheM in the seam, 
whatever strength the thread possesses is multiplied by the 
number of stitches in the same. For example, take the front 
seam of a side-laced boot, which will average ten inches in 
length. Putting eighteen stitches to an inch you have one 
hundred and eighty stitches, each capable of withstanding a 
strain of seven pounds, or one thousand two hundred and 
sixty pounds to hold the two halves of the front seam. Then 
in the back seam there is, we will say, eight hundred and 
eighty-two pounds, which gives an aggregate of two thou- 
sand one hundred and forty-two pounds holding strength, to 
hold the two halves of the upper together. Now the ques- 
tion arises, how much of this holding strength is appropri- 
ated by the wearer of the shoe? What woman can stand a 
forty-two pound squeeze of the foot, leaving the other 
ttwnty-one hundred pounds out of the question altogether? A 
woman who weighs one hundred and fifty pounds, by bear- 
ing her whole weight on one foot could not produce a strain 
on the seam of more than a mere fraction of her weight. 



90 THE TRUE CAUSE OF RIPPING. 

The principal pressure would be downward, the balance be- 
ing caused by the spreading of the foot. If the boots were 
a loose lit, the upper would not receive a lateral strain of 
more than five or ten pounds, as much as tender feet could 
endure, and this would only strain the thread an ounce or 
two to the stitch. It will, therefore, be seen that there is a 
superabundance of tensile strength to withstand a very slight 
strain, and consequently if a seam fails it must be because 
the stitches are severed by friction. Now millions of tests 
have proved that the thread wliicli best withstands this fric- 
tion is cotton. 

As to " the friction idea of a seam being a sad humiliation 
to makers of sewing machines," I must say it is difficult to 
see wiierethe humiliation comes in, since all sewing machines 
are capable of giving any amount of tension ; consequently 
his "logic" must be regarded as exceedingly thin, and the 
" humiliation," if any, belongs to Mr. Canham for giving ex- 
pression to such an idea. 

In his endeavor to answer what he terms this ''friction 
idea " he simply denies the fact and then takes refuge in 
boiler shops, etc. He asks "what would be thought of a 
boiler-smith allowing for friction in his joints?" not realiz- 
ing that the Almighty had provided for that in advance of 
the creation of Adam. When the boiler question comes up 
w^e will attend to it. 

If shoes are to be like welded up Avork they might as well 
be wooden dug outs, or cast in metal. If, he says, there is 
to be elasticity to a shoe it must not be gained at the expense 
of the rigidity necessary for thorough endurance. Well, 
now, it happens that the most endurable shoe bottom is the 
moat flexible one. I refer to the turn or pump sole, and the 
nearest approach to that for durability is the most flexible 
shoe that can be made of any other kind. The way to make 
solid, flexible work is to leave the wax out, and use a lubri- 
cant that will enable you to draw a larger amount of thread 
into a given size of hole than you can possibly do with wax. 



MCKAY SEWING MORE RIGID THAN PEGGING. 91 

If you use a cotton thread there will be no need of wax to 
preserve it from decay, as it is not so susceptible to atmos- 
pheric action as to require any care on that account. 

Mr. Cariham says, " I make bold to affirm that in fair hand 
work, friction, as a cause of failure, was a thing almost un- 
knoAvn." Well, he could have said the same as to pegged 
work. I used to make light single-soled calf boots, with a 
single row of pegs around the forepart and two rows in the 
shank, and had no thought of their ripping. In fact, 1 have 
ever found pegging more trustworthy than sewing. Thirty 
years ago I made twenty-flve pairs of pegged boots and shoes 
to one pair of sewed, and nearly the same proportion would 
be made now but for the advent of the McKay Sole Sewing 
Machine. This machine's work has ever been more rigid and 
less durable than pegging (owing to the use of wax), yet it 
possessed the name of being sewed work, and is vastly 
cheaper than any done by hand. Hence its rapid introduc- 
tion in spite of the fact that it possesses none of the merits 
which the term " sewed work" implies. 

While I have tried to mal^e my position thoroughly under- 
stood, regarding the soft Avax, hot room and large hole, as 
being a necessity which the machine alone imposes, yet it 
will not be unprofitable to repeat it again. And first I would 
ask Mr. Canham why the heating of the horn was provided 
for by the inventor? and why manufacturers keep up the ex- 
pensive heating process if not to soften the wax? Will he 
also explain how it is possible to use a McKay needle that will 
not make a hole at least six times larger than the thread? 
Yet, this is quite too small. How the shoe manufacturer's 
heart would swell with gratitude toward Mr. Canham if he 
would only tell them how to keep the wax as hot on the loop 
that is left standing above the shoe as it is in the horn below, 
with that cruel shoe upper completely enveloping it as if to 
prevent the possibility of any heat escaping. This can be 
compensated for to a limited degree, by inclosing the ma- 
chine in a small heated room and soften the wax. Now, w^hy 



92 



MCKAY SEWING ILLUSTRATED. 



is all this trouble and expense necessary? Simply because 
you Avill persist in using- wax, and that, too, right in face of 
the fact that it is impossible to tine! a single particle of it on 
the thread when the time has come at which its aid would l)c 
of any use. 

Mr. Canham should understand that the two systems of 
hand and machine stitching are entirely different. What is 
essential in the former is equally essential in the latter, but is 
impossible of attainment. This will be made clearer by the 
accompanying cut, which represents a section of the channel 
of a shoe sole being sewed. The needle has risen to its high- 
est point to pull in the stitch next behind it ; the feeding has 




Fig. 20. 

THE NEEDLE IMMEDIATELY AFTER IT HAS CAS'I' OFK A LOOr 
AND IS RETURNING TO TAKE UP ANOTHER. 



taken place and the loop S S is cast otfaiid left standing wliilc 
the needle returns to hook up another loop. Now, there 
is more than enough thread in that loop to form the next 
stitch, so all of its cooled surface has to be drawn around 



A BACK-HANDED OPERATION. 93 

the needle, as well as around the leather between the needle 
holes. This is done by the power exerted on the loop 
next to be pulled up, hence it follows that the less the 
friction the tighter will the outer and inner sole be drawn 
together with a given amount of tension. Then the more 
firmly they are drawn together the more durable the shoe will 
be ; now the only way of lessening the friction is to use soft 
or liquefied wax, a hot machine and room, and a large needle 
hole. But it is far better to employ a paraffine lubricant on 
a large thread drawn into a small hole, thus making a more 
durable and flexible seam with a cold machine operated in 
any cold corner of the room. This method also does away 
with the expense of heating and the smut, as well as the an- 
noyance of handling a hot machine. I have no fears that 
any reader of my articles can find the slightest confirmation 
in Mr. Canham's statement that I have repudiated the idea of 
soft wax, large needle and hot room in stitching with the 
McKay machine. 

As to " wax protecting the thread," all any person has to 
do to prove the contrary is to borrow a waxed end from 
some cobbler and compare its strength with a freshly made 
thread of the same size. As to the labor of taking the worn 
out sole ofl* a "fair stitched boot, sewed with a ten-cord 
thread ten stitches to the inch," I should much prefer that 
job to the taking ofi' a sole of like thickness into which as 
many pegs of the same size had been driven, or that of pull- 
ing ofi" a sole stitched with the same bulk of cotton lubricated 
and drawn into a hole as small as it could be pulled through. 
Either when old would be so full of grit as to "cut much 
like iron," and destroy the edge of a knife. To another of 
Mr. Canham's queries, I have to say that I never have spent 
much time in pulling the old stitches out of a welt. The 
only reason I ever found for doing it, was in their tendency 
to come out, as the new stitches went in, or on withdrawing 
the awl. My great anxiety was that the old stitches would 
stay where they were, but they seldom did, and I had more 



94 THE BLAKE METHOD OF WAXING. 

or less scraping and pasting to do to cover the rags. Again, 
Mr. Canham says, " up to a certain point, twisting is a source 
of strength." Well, then, that is the point to stop at of course. 

Again, he says, " Mr. Lascell is unaware that wax may be- 
thoroughly driven through the thread mechanically when the 
proper machine is found for its use." Well, Mr. Blake 
brought that out with the stitching machine ; and it has been 
in use for many years and the machine threads are purposely 
left slack twisted in order that the wax may thoroughly per- 
meate every strand. There is no hand system of waxing 
that bears any comparison with the Blake method of boiling 
it in, and yet the thread thus waxed fails constantly in spite 
of this waxing, on account of the inability of linen to with- 
stand friction. Again, he asks, " Can he find a bootmaker 
that uses the brittle wax he talks about?" Yes, they all use 
it. It is the identical wax Mr. Canham admires. He may 
make a batch of it, and if he can't make it fly by strik- 
ing it a sudden blow with a hammer even in a warrt room, 
then I will confess that I do n't know the nature of his good 
wax. But, he adds, that '■ good wax is tough and pliant and 
as adhesive as glue, " ! 

If this is so, then he is the only man living that can make 
it. Again, he says that with his great array of figures before 
him he never dreams of staying the friction by making a tight 
seam. Well, that is where Mr. Canham fails again to under- 
stand what he reads, since I have advocated the use of a 
lubricated thread for the sole 'purpose of drawing the soles 
together more firmly than it was possilile to do with wax. It 
is the use of wax in sewing with the McKay machine that 
makes all the difi'erence there is in value between its work 
and hand sewing. 

As to " dry bottom filling piece over piece" being the sole 
cause of boots squeaking, that admits of much doubt, but it 
can't be questioned that if "a laj^er of bladder between the 
pieces " will overcome that great annoyance the demand for 
bladders should be far in excess of the supply. 



THE LOSS SUSTAINED BY WAXING. 95 

Again, Mr. Caiiham says that " it is to tlie solidity of tlie 
seam that we \nust look for strength." That is all right; 
only I should substitute the word (hirabilUy, for there is 
always far more of tensile strength than can be of any use, 
and all of this in excess is a useless waste. Abandon wax 
and you can reduce the bulk of thread one-half, and have a 
more durable and flexible shoe. He also says, that the soles 
must be drawn together so tightly that there can be no saw- 
ing of one surface against the other. Well, that is all cor- 
rect; but you can't produce that result on the McKay 
machine with the use of "good firm wax," nor with anything 
of the nature of wax, without the other conditions of hot 
room, hot machine, and large hole for the thread to pass 
through. 

Again Mr. Canham says, "x4.s soon as this sawing action 
sets in, there are hundreds of points of leverage, and there is 
no thread that could long survive the action." I don't know 
about the "hundreds," but in McKay stitching there are 
about four of these "points" to the inch, and by the use of 
wax the ' ' action" sets in about six months earlier than it 
otherwise would. Hence the loss which all McKay machine 
users sustain in the employment of wax, a nasty and useless 
incumbrance, and flax, the poorest of all known substances 
for withstanding friction, atmospheric action or moisture. 

I will notice one other point. Mr. Canham says, " The 
vegetable, flufi'y floss of cotton gives it a pre-eminence for 
the seamstress, but constitutes its unfitness for boot mak- 
ing." Well, now, in looking at the thread manufactured by 
the best known makers of England and America, one fails to 
see anything about it of a flufi'y nature. For seven years 
past, cotton thread has been used for seaming every known 
grade of shoes, both men's and \yomen's. In Lynn it is pre- 
ferred to both silk and linen on account of its greater dura- 
bility for shoe seams, and, consequently, it is too late to talk 
of its unfitness for shoes or for anything else. Cotton 
thread for shoe work, six-cord, spooled on 500-yd. spools, 



9G "STRIKE, BUT HEAR." — CORRECT THOUGH RADICAL. 

from No. 12 to 50, is now made l)y all thread manufacturers. 
It is now used on the Willcox & Gibbs' automatic loop- 
stitch machine which, seven years ago, was considered the 
most nntit machine for anything in the line of leather stitch- 
ing, but is now considered to l)e the only safe machine to 
use in seaming shoes. 

Wlien first I commenced to talk of sucli a combination of 
thread and machine for shoe seams, my sanity ])egan to be 
questioned; l)ut now it is undoubted, notwithstanding my 
ideas regarding cotton and paratfine for sole sewing. 




CHAPTER XI. 



COTTON VS. LINEN THREADS. 
To THE EDITOK of IHE BoOT AND ShOE TRADES JOURNiVL, 

OF London. England : 

Dear Sir, — I seem called upon to reply to Mr. A. C. 
Canham's communication in your issue of January 20 (1883). 
In the tirst place, I would say that I have used the names of 
McKay and Blake interchangeably, as I was under the impres- 
sion that the McKay machine was best known in England as 
the " Blake," the name of its inventor. 

It is true that at flrst, I set out to show how best to utilize 
the loop-stitch machine, but I have found it needful to step 
aside at times in order to meet my opponents upon their 
chosen field, as in the present instance where Mr. Canham 
prefers to discuss the idea of " establishing the most perfect 
system of sole sewing j)ossible," which, to my view, how- 
ever, embraces the sewing by loop-stitch machine. This 
necessarily carries us back to flrst principles, where, instead 
of arguing the merits of any given method, we have flrst to 
consider the material used in sewing; in other words, the 
two greatest impediments to making good work, viz. : Flax 
and Wax. 

There is not a shoemaker in all England who is not aware 
that his linen thread deteriorates so rapidly that if he was to 
leave a ball of it exposed to the atmosphere for a month or 
two, it would be unflt for use, to say nothing of the addi- 
tional damage that would accrue by immersing it in his shop 
tub every day or two ; and it w^ould be a matter of surprise 
to And flfty per cent, of its original strength at the end of 

13 



98 ■ THE TRUE HYPOTHESIS. 

that time. Now the fact that an in seam so often gives out 
where the original liolding strength equalled one hundred 
and fifty pounds to the inch of seam, and that of the welt 
also with two hundred pounds to the inch, is explainable 
upon no other hj^pothesis than that of the rapid deterioration 
of the thread in the first instance, and, secondl3% its inability 
to withstand friction, even at its best, and much less to with- 
stand it when two-thirds rotted. In the first place, flax has 
to be rotted to a considerable degree before it will separate 
from the stalk at all, and from that point onwards its deteri- 
oration is as much more rapid than cotton, as a hemlock 
board lying in the mud is than that of the wood in one's 
desk, and it is only because there is such a superabundance 
of tensile strength of thread in the new shoe, that an ounce 
to the stitch of it is left when the shoe is worn out. and the 
further consideration that the interior of the thread is pro- 
tected to some extent by the twist, and its enclosure by the 
surrounding leather, into which it has been tightly drawn. 
Now, in this matter, we find the solution of Mr. Canham's 
queries as to "plow shoes." In the uppers of *such, the 
thread is more exposed to air and moisture, and as the shep- 
herds wade through "the dewy grass," the leather becomes 
soaked, and afterwards dry and hq^d, so that where the 
wrinkles are, the seam is bent backwards and forwards like a 
door hinge, and the strain and consequent friction soon 
wears the thread in two, and this forces us right into a pit 
that Mr. Canham thinks does not exist, for he says: "If 
once we admit the principle of one edge sawing upon the 
other as a necessary evil, we are in an unfathomable sea of 
difficulties." But here we are, notwithstanding, right where 
the great mischief arises, and it is only while the linen is at 
its best that the seam remains unbroken, and however well 
the stitches were drawn in, friction and decay v:ill tell, and 
no amount of "skiving of the pieces" will avail to prevent 
their being speedily severed, notwithstanding Mr. Canham's 
questionable 4ii;apositiou that, "In proportion as the thread 



A QUESTIONABLE PROPOSITION REFUTED. 99 

will staud the strain of the machine in tightening in the 
stitch, will be its power to keep the work from sawing asun- 
der." 

Let us look at this for a moment. Suppose that an upper 
is secured with a linen thread that will pull twenty pounds, 
the thread will then be got in safely by a tension of nineteen 
and three-quarter pounds, and there will be only one quarter 
of a 2Jound left to withstand a strain in wearing, and, accord- 
ing to the best calculation I can make as to the rapidity of 
the thread's decay, that shoe would last from twenty-four to 
forty-eight hours. But fortunatelj^ no upper leather would 
Avith stand such a tension without cutting through, and hence 
Mr. Canham's proposition would be defeated, the shoe- 
maker's credit saved, and the consumer remain in blissful 
ignorance that Mr. Canham had said anything detrimental to 
his interests ; but with a cotton thread, even that quarter of 
a pound of surplus strength would remain without sensible 
deterioration, until the shoes were worn out, and would be 
quite sufficient to answer all the requirements as to holding- 
strength. 

As to sole sewing, it must be a matter of no little aston- 
ishment that a McKay sewed bottom, having only one line of 
stitches, (and they nearly one- third of an inch in length), 
should come so near equalling hand-made welts for dura- 
bility, the latter having twice as many stitches in the inseam, 
and three to six times as many more in the welt. In this 
will be found ample confirmation of the correctness of my 
theory regarding the great superabundance of tensile strength 
in proportion to any conceivable requirements in the case. 
Then add to this the fact that the McKay needle punches a 
hole six times larger than the thread that is drawn into it, 
while the hand awl is smaller than the thread (what an 
enormous difference in the impinging qualities of the thread- 
holes of the two systems), and yet the McKay thread never 
pulls out of those large holes, but is invariably found in 
place, both in the outsolc and insole with the thread chiseled 



100 A GREAT ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 

off between them, with no wax to hold the thread in place. 
In view of all this, it must be apparent that all this talk 
about the superior strength of linen and the adhesiveness of 
wax is making- a great ado about nothing, for there is not a 
single redeeming quality about either ; on the contrary, both 
are damaging to the last degree, as compared with cotton 
and parafRne, either in machine or hand work. That cotton 
will endure from ten to twenty times as much chating as 
linen will, is clearly demonstrable ; it then follows that it is 
as much more durable, and add to this the fact that linen will 
deteriorate by atmospheric action ninety-flve per cent, faster 
than cotton, we have another large item to put to the credit 
of the latter which any comparative test will confirm the 
truth of. 

As to the test Mr. Canham suggests, of sewing two seams, 
one with wax and one without, and tlien cutting off the tops 
of the stitches, and pulling the pieces apart, I should say that, 
all other things being equal, the wax sewing would be the 
most difficult to pull apart ; but that would be simply finding 
out what everybody knows, viz. : that fresh wax will stick, 
and it would not take ten minutes to prove that if its adhesive 
power could be properly utilized, it would afford far more 
than sufficient holding strength without any thread at all. 
The impinging of a dry thread in a hole that is no larger than 
the thread, is far more than is required to keep it in place, 
and the fact that it is always found in place in a ripped shoe 
bottom is proof of it, if any is needed, for there is no wax, 
and if there was there could be no earthly use for it, as the 
thread would be there all the same if dry. The ripping is 
always betioeen the pieces and 7iot by the slipping of the 
thread from the holes. Waxed thread work has always been 
ripping in this way, and the word " IVairanted" so often 
stamped upon shoes is a public confession that ripping is the 
rule rather than the exception. I do not hesitate to say that 
if a " World's Convention" of shoemakers was called to de- 
vise the worst possible method of sewing a shoe, and thev were 



TEST OF THE IMPINGING POWER OF A DRY THREAD. 101 

to consider first, how to make the most rigid and uncomfort- 
able bottom, and secondly, 'how to prevent making a close 
seam, and ensure a crack in the finished edge, and, thirdly, 
what thread to use in order to ensure the failure of the shoes 
in the shortest possible time, they could not possibly hit upon 
a better combination than that in general use, and which Mr. 
Canham so earnestly commends, viz. : Wax and Flax. 

I have just made a partial test of the impinging power of 
a dry thread in a piece of dry sole leather by drawing a dry 
cotton tliread into as small a hole as possible, but having no 
bristles at hand, I took a sixteen-cord No. 20^ cotton thread, 
and after making as good a taper as possible by scraping 
one end with a knife brought the many strands together as 
compactly as possible, and threaded the end through the hole, 
which proved to be large enough to have drawn in another 
sixteeh-cord thread in the regular way of stitching with the 
ends properly bristled, but, on applying the thread tester, I 
found that it registered just three and three-quarters pounds 
when the thread began to move. I was about to make a 
thread in the regular waj^ when it occurred to me as being of 
no consequence, since by whatever exertion the tliread was 
pulled in, it w^ould require at least an equal force to start 
it back. 

Let us suppose a man pulls only ten pounds with each 
hand, which would be less than one-quarter of the thread's 
strength (and, according to Mr. Canham's requirements, 
would be exceedingly slack work), we should then have 
twenty pounds impinging power to each hole, and eight holes 
to the inch would give one hundred and sixty pounds to the 
inch, and, eighteen inches round the shoe would give two 
thousand eight hundred and eighty pounds to keep the sole to 
the welt after the tops of the stitches had all been cut off. Now, 
if we give wax all the credit Mr. Canham claims for it, of 
what use could it possibly be to add a ton or two more to 
hold the sole to the welt? 

Now suppose the thread had been waxed and the tops of 



102 now MR. CANHAM WAS SQUELCHED. 

the stitches allowed to ivear off; by that time the wax is ab- 
sorbed and the space it occupied would give that much of 
slackness to the thread, be it much or little, Avhich, however, 
would be of no consequence as there would be an abundance 
left. Most shoemakers after hauling in the stitch, give it a 
final pull of about forty pounds, or nearly the strength of 
the thread, to make it solid, and it takes nearly all the strength 
of the thread to start it, and it moves hard, wdiile with a dry 
or lubricated thread every ounce tells, and when the stitch is 
drawn home it takes but little impinging force to hold what 
is gained, and more especially if the next stitch back is 
moved, and thus a solidity of seam is got that will not admit 
of any movement of the sole upon the welt nor of such a 
shrinkage as to cause a crack in the finished edge after the 
sole has seasoned. 

Mr. Canham says that " no machine boots were ever made 
or will be, so elastic as best hand made goods." AVell, not- 
withstanding this assertion, the fact remains that Mr. C. A. 
Went worth, of Lynn, has been turning out shoes sewed on 
the McKay machine with cotton and paraffine, for over a 
year, which in point of flexibility and mellow feeling are so 
far superior to hand-made welts as to be preferred even at 
the price of the latter, and I now^ propose to send a pair to 
the editor of this journal that shall fully corroborate, not 
only the above, but every other statement I have herein or 
heretofore made on the cotton and anti-wax subject. 

Acting upon the above suggestion, I went to Mr. Went- 
worth's and had a pair of light kid uppers fitted (size 4), and 
had the l)ottoms stitched on the McKay machine with six- 
teen-cord No. 20 cotton, wiixed with parafline ; the size of the 
thread was a trifie above that of a five-cord Barbour's linen ; 
both the outsole and insole were of medium weight and of 
firm sole leather. When the pair was finished, I compared 
them with several of the best hand made turn shoes made 
in Lynn, and in every case these shoe bottoms proved to be 
more ftexible than either pair of the turns with which they 



A LONDON editor's ACKNOWLEDGMENT. lOB 



were compared. I then expressed tliem to the editor of the 
Boot and Shoe Trades Journal, 282 Strand, London, England, 
not only as a refutation of Mr. Canham's assertion, but as 
proving- the truth of all the foregoing statements regarding 
the durability of cotton, and the uselessness of wax. I re- 
quested the editor to exhibit them, and then, if possible, find 
some one that could wear them, and have them put to steady 
service until worn out. The uppers were closed with No. 36 
cotton on the automatic tension Willcox & Gibbs' machine, 
and no staying was put on either outside or inside to 
strengthen the seams. In due time the Boot and Shoe 
Trades Journal (of April 7, 1883) published the following 
acknowledgment : 

"By w^ay of test, and for the inspection of those of our 
readers who feel an interest in the matter, Mr. Lascell sends 
us a sample pair of ladies' light boots, made in Lynn, under 
his directions, the uppers seamed with cotton, and the soles 
sewed with a cotton thread, sixteen-cord No. 20. In a letter 
which accompanies the sample boots, our attention is drawn 
to the qualification they have of being as flexible as turned 
shoes ; this quality they certainly possess in a high degree. 
The boots are not socked, and the stitching inside is conse- 
quently visible ; this is so clean and perfect as to make no 
sock necessary. The boots may be examined at this oflice on 
personal application." 

I will here state in regard to this pair of shoes that the 
insoles w^ere not slashed, nor w^as the grain shaved off, nor 
were they cut from card clothing, nor were any of the mod- 
ern expedients resorted to in order to gain flexibility ; but, 
as before stated, they were whole sole leather of medium 
weight, and the stock fitting was done in the usual way for 
McKay stitching, and the uppers were lasted in the usual 
manner, with tacks. 

In the Boot and Shoe Trades Journal (of DecembeK 29, 
1883), a few days over eight months after the acknowledg- 
ment of the receipt of the boots, as above quoted, I find the 
following : 



104 WHAT MAN HAS DONE, MAN MAY DO. 



•' We take this opportimity of mentioning the excellent re- 
sults which have been obtained from a test pair of boots, 
sewed witli tlie nnwaxed cotton thread which Mr. Lascell so 
strongly advocated in our columns some months ago. The 
hoots., a pair manufactured under his directions, have completely 
home out his assertions as to the durability of cotton and the 
non-necessity ofivax. We propose devoting an article to this 
subject in an early number." 

I am not aware that the promised article has as yet ap- 
peared. If it has I have overlooked it, which is much to be 
regretted as I have now (May 20, 1884) no time to get it by 
correspondence, as this book is now in press, and the entire 
edition will be printed ere an answer could l)e received. 

While it would be interesting to have a detailed account 
of the service to which the shoes were put, yet it would 
seem that nothing need be added to the editor's sweeping 
declaration that the test shoes " had completelj'^ borne out 
my assertions as to the durability of cotton and the non- 
necessity of wax." 

This covers the entire ground, as the editor had not only 
read, but published, all of the matter contained in the fore- 
going chapters as well as those that follow. And now if it 
is possible for me to produce a pair of McKay sewed shoes 
•' more flexible and durable than hand made," (which I have 
demonstrated many times during the past eight years, that it 
is possible to do), then it follows that any number of pairs 
may be made in like manner, and this being true, I have as 
truly ushered in a new era in the manufacture of shoes and 
gloves, the importance of which can hardly be estimated. 



^m 

m-^^ 




CHAPTER XII 



COTTON VS. SILK AND LINEN THREAD. 



Editor Shoe and Leather Manufacturer, N. Y. : 

Your New England correspondent writing under the 
nom de plume of "Fine Slioes " in tlie February number de- 
mands a reply. The first paragraph of his communication I 
will quote : 

"I think this acknowledgment of the general use of cotton 
explains the reason for the breakage of seams in so many of 
the Lynn made shoes. (I want it understood, by the way, 
that i have nothing against any of the Lynn manufacturers, 
but I think it would be well for them to know the truth on 
this question.) I have seen shoes made by well-known man- 
ufacturers of ladies' work of Lynn and elsewhere that broke 
in the front seam after one or two weeks' wear, and it is a 
general complaint in this part of the country that the seams 
of ladies' shoes do not wear well. I have examined a great 
many of these seams, and found them invariably done with 
cotton." 



Answering the first three lines, I will say, not necei 
The ripping of shoe uppers dates too far back. The great 
trouble with machine-stitched uppers has ever been their ten- 
dency to rip, and up to 1875 the idea of seaming shoes with 
cotton had never been thought of. The thread in use, espec- 
ially the upper or needle thread, was either silk or linen, and 
it was found necessary to add stays outside or inside, or 
both, to support the seams, and that cumbersome, senseless 
and expensive practice has been continued to this day. 

Many of the wisest heads in the business are free to admit 



106 EXCELLENT REFERENCES. 

the iiselessness of the stays, but tliej' are obliged to continue 
to apply them merely as a selUwj point. I intend, however, 
to discuss this staying matter in a future article, and will, 
therefore, pass it now. I merely allude to it here as one of 
the proofs that, notwithstanding the twentj^-five years' use of 
the best of all shuttle sewing machines (the Howe) , and the 
best of silk, shoe manufacturers have been subjected to con- 
stant and grievous losses by the failure of seams stitched 
under the very conditions " F. S." is so wedded to. The 
ripping of seams was by no means confined to goods made in 
Lynn or New England, l)ut has been the bane of all through- 
out the entire country, as must be freely admitted by all, not 
excepting " F. S." whose very unsophisticated address to 
Lynn manufacturers must be quite amusing to such firms as 
Keene Brothers, Morgan & Dore, B. F. Spinney & Co., B. F. 
Doak & Co., and others, either of whom turn out twice as 
many pairs of shoes in a day as " F. S." claims to make in a 
year, and all seamed with cotton on the Willcox ^^c Gibbs ma- 
chine. It is, indeed, due in a great measure to the stability 
of the goods of these manufacturers that their yearly in- 
crease in production for the past seven years is attributable. 

To all who are at all acquainted with the shrewdness and 
business tact of the men above named, the idea that they 
would put out goods enough in a single season to work their 
utter ruin if the seams failed, is extremely ludicrous, to say 
the least. Then there are a few firms whose goods for. style 
and quality rival the best made in any part of the world, viz. : 
Bennett ot Barnard, J. N. Smith, A. F. Smith, Wm. Silliman & 
Co., etc., and all seaming their shoes with cotton on Willcox 
>5c (xibbs' machine, for the single reason that they had learned 
that the goods of the first named stood better than their own 
seamed w^ith E silk under thread, and D upper thread. 

In this you have an additional reason for crediting my 
statement that "it was too late to talk of the unfitness of 
cotton for seaming shoes or anything else;" but this is not 
all, you must include nineteen-twentieths of all the shoe 



WENTWORTH MADE HAPPY. 107 

manufacturers of Lynn, Haverhill, Salem, Beverly, Dan- 
vers, Marbleheacl, Stoueham, Newbnryport, Portsmouth, N. 
H., Portland, Me., several in Boston, Brockton, New York 
City, Syracuse, Auburn, Rochester, Chicago, Newark, N. J. , 
and Baltimore, Cincinnati and Louisville, besides many iso- 
lated factories scattered over the country generally. 

There is not one manufacturer to be found anywhere who, 
having had one season's experience, has gone back to the old 
system of using silk and linen and the shuttle machine. 
Lastly, I will again refer to C. A. Wentworth, of Lynn, who 
does an extensive retail business, and makes his own goods 
of every kind. He has used cotton wholly for the past 
twenty months, seaming all his goods with it on a Willcox & 
Gibbs automatic tension machine, and he says that up to the 
present time he has not had a single shoe seam fail, while on 
the other hand while using his best efforts with shuttle ma- 
chines and E silk under, and D upper threads, he was obliged 
to make good one pair per day on an average. 

We venture the suggestion that if " F. S." was to join the 
semi-annual procession of disciples to this Mecca of their 
craft, he too might learn something to his advantage. He 
claims to have seen Lynn-made boots rip within two or three 
weeks. Well, if he had seen them rip in as many hours, or 
minutes even (as in pulling the boots on, for example), it 
would not necessarily be any argument against cotton or in 
favor of silk, as there are very many contingencies arising 
from malpractice in fitting uppers which would account for 
the failure, aside from the question of thread. The cupidity 
of a great many manufacturers leads them to use a cheap 
needle, that is certain to wear the thread out or nearly so, 
before the stitch is planted in the leather ; the only thing they 
seem to care for being the lowest possible price and the most 
liberal discounts, while disregarding the probability of los- 
ing ten dollars on a case of boots to save one cent on a 
needle. Others again will attempt to close seams with cotton 
on a shuttle machine wiiich involved a much larger needle to 



108 HOW TO MAKE DURABLE SEAMS. 

carry the same size thread as silk, besides making a more 
rigid seam, owing to the non-elasticity of the stitch. The 
Willcox & Gibbs will carry the same thread with a needle 
less than half the size, and gives an elasticity of seam which 
precludes the possibility of the seam stretching far enough 
to break the thread. 

" F. S." says, as a result of such ripping, many of the 
workmen have shoes made for their wives and daughters in 
establishments where there is nothing turned out but men's 
goods, and that he has fitted seventy-five pairs in two years! ! 
used all silk, and they stood well. He might have added that 
ever since he was a child he has known people to have shoes 
made in cnstom shops where they did nothing but cobble and 
make to measure, but that does not prove that a cotton 
thread that would pull only one-third as much, would not 
have stood equally well. Had he made one of a pair with 
such cotton, and the other with silk to be worn by the same 
person, Avith the same pains taken with one as with the other, 
he might have learned something about the durability of cot- 
ton that he did not know before. 

Again, " F. S." says: "I have sided up several pairs of 
men's boots with silk and they never gave out." Well, now, 
there is nothing wonderful about that, as he doubtless used 
an F or FF silk that would pull twenty-five pounds, and if 
he put only ten stitches to an inch, would give to a bootleg 
fifteen inches long no less than seven thousand and five hund- 
red pounds holding strength to resist the strain in treeing the 
boot and hauling it on. Now we might deduct the seven 
thousand pounds, and trust the balance of five hundred to do 
all the holding necessary, as there is nothing to cramp or 
wear the thread in two in a bootleg, as there is in the wrinkles 
formed in the front and heel seams of a side-lace boot. Who 
ever heard of a man bursting the seams of his pantaloons 
below the knees? I could side up a pair of calf or cowhide 
bootlegs with No. 30 cotton and have them hold good until 
the bottoms were worn out, and then ensrraft the old legs on 



THE TIME TO HOIST THE DANGER SIGNAL. 109 

to a new pair of vamps, and wear them out also. The only 
wonder about this matter is, that " F. S." should have men- 
tioned the siding- of boots as a proof of the superiority of 
silk over cotton, and yet with his apparently limited knowl- 
edge of cotton he expresses the opinion that ' ' Mr. Lascell 
has evidently much yet to learn about it." Well, I accept 
that as being the most sensible remark he has made, for I 
realize that with all the attention I have given the subject I 
have yet more to learn than I thought I had when I began. 

When a man gets to a point where he thinks he knows it 
all, it has then become necessary to hoist the danger signal. 
As between the views of the uninitiated superficial observer 
and myself, there is a wide divergency of opinion on this 
subject, and this divergence cannot be otherwise than the 
measure of value as between cotton and silk for durability 
in a shoe seam. In the former class will be found such as 
" F. S." who charged me with being " all carried away with 
the cotton idea." 

Now the man is most eftectually carried away wlio is first 
hoodwinked by prejudices, and then lugged off bodily in blank 
ignorance as to where he is going to fetch up ; and as a man 
in that condition may chance to hear a remark from a by- 
stander that will give him a clue to his whereabouts, so now 
I propose to give such, some facts that they may profit by. 
To this end I have instituted some simple and eftective thread 
tests, which for fairness seems to me to be quite unobjec- 
tionable. 

The fact is (as shown in previous chapters) that all other 
things being equal as to needle, tension, etc., the thread that 
will endure the most friction (as in the bending of the fin- 
ished seam) is the most valuable. That there is a great di- 
versity of opinion as to the relative value of silk, linen and 
cotton among manufacturers of shoes, gloves and clothing is 
evidenced by their choice, and the question is as to the wis- 
dom of their choice. Three-fourths of all the shoe manufac- 
turers, and nineteen-twentieths of the manufacturers of 



110 



ANOTHER THREAD TEST ILLUSTRATED. 



gloves and clothing, would decide in favor of silk or linen as 
against cotton, but that does not alter the fact that cotton is 
superior to both, as the following will show. 

I procured a spool of Leeson's No. 60 gray linen, Nonotuck 
D silk, and No. 24: four-cord gray cotton. There was lying 
on the bench a sewing machine attachment of plate-iron 
one-sixteenth inch thick, having a slot in one end as seen in 
Fig. 21. I rounded off the corners with a fine half-round file 




Fig. 21. 
illustrating the durability of cotton, 



FACTS AND FIGURES. Ill 

and then polished the surface smooth with a strip of tine 
emery cloth, and for a final finish I drew back and forth over 
the edge, a strip of cotton cloth, which left a smooth pol- 
ished surface as a friction surface across which to draw the 
thread. 

After screwing- this to the edge of the bench as shown in 
sketch, I took a paper-weight weighing sixteen and three- 
fourth ounces, and attaching the thread to be tested, passed 
it through the slot and with it raised the weight one inch 
so as to confine the wearing surface of the thread to as nearly 
one inch as possible. I placed a box under the weight so that 
the latter should rest within such distance from the wearing- 
surface as to admit of only six to eight inches of thread be- 
tween the latter and the weight. This precaution was deem- 
ed necessary in order that the stretch of the thread (if any), 
should not alter the position of the inch of thread being 
worn. I then raised and lowered the weight with each piece 
of thread tested until it parted, and with the following re- 
sults : 

D Silk. Linen. Cotton. 

First trial 194 times 218 1,643 

Second trial 251 189 1,173 

Third trial 163 2U 1,396 

Fourth trial 163 171 1,238 

Fifth trial 163 138 1,593 

Sixth trial 205 220 1,225 

Total 1,139 1,150 8,268 

Thus it will be seen that cotton averaged to be nearly 
eight times more durable than either silk or linen. 

The silk pulled 1434 ^^ 14)^ pounds 

The linen pulled lO^I to ll)^ pounds 

The cotton thread lO)^ to 11>^ pounds 

The above corroborates my former tests of various kinds 
as well as those of Mr. Charles Goodyear, Jr., the inventor 
of the justly celebrated Goodyear welt and turn machines. 
It also furnishes the key to the unparalleled success of some 



112 A CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. 

three hundred manufacturers of ladies', misses' and child- 
ren's shoes in Lynn and vicinity, who have used cotton and 
the Willcox & Gibbs automatic tension machine for seaming 
uppers. All these manufacturers formerly used silk and 
linen threads. 

There are hundreds of shoe manufacturers whose preju- 
dice in favor of silk and linen debars them from making any 
practical experiments in proof of the value of cotton, and, 
until they do, their opinion of it would be about as valuable 
as the opinion of a Hottentot regarding the customs and 
habits of modern civilization. Thej'^ choose to remain in 
blissful ignorance of the saving to be effected as between the 
use of cotton and silk — the saving of one-third in the cost 
of seaming as between the speedy Willcox & Gibbs and the 
shuttle machines, as well as the enhanced value of their 
goods as compared with their present system, but as all such 
are reasonably certain to have part in the second resurrec- 
tion, they can be excused from having part in the first. 

"F. S." challenges me to make as good a seam with cot- 
ton on Willcox & Gibbs' machine as he can with silk on a 
shuttle machine. I intend to accept that challenge. If he 
will cut a pair of side-lace boots for some acquaintance of 
his, and send me one of them, I will close the seams inside 
of thirty seconds, and he may spend as many hours on his, 
and put on as many stays as he chooses, inside or outside, or 
both ; and if my shoe seams, without any staying, rip before 
they are worn out, I will pay for the boots. However ex- 
pensive his seams may be, they can serve no better purpose, 
and I will guarantee that the cost of the front and heel seams 
of my shoe shall not exceed one-sixth of one cent for both 
labor and thread, as done by the case, and I will not use cot- 
ton larger than No. 30. 

Again, he says : 



" One of the worst features of the Willcox & Gibbs ma- 
chine is that if one stitch breaks, three or four and some- 



AN ACCOUNT OF SPECIAL TESTS. 113 



times six or seven will pull out before it will fasten itself, 
wliile tlie stitching of two thread machines will only pull 
back two stitclies at the moat." 



In tliat sentence Mr. " F. S." has displayed a vast amount 
of ignorance regarding both machines^ for exactly the reverse 
of tliat statement would be the truth. In fact every shoe 
manufacturer and every shoe wearer in the country knows 
tliat when the shuttle stitch breaks there is no end of the 
ripping, and that a seam will rip from one-fourth to three- 
fourths of an inch per day where there is but one line of 
stitching, while with the Willcox & Gibbs' twisted loop stitch, 
a seam without staying will wear for months with the thread 
worn off or broken without ripping a single stitch. 

In corroboration of the above statement we refer to a pair 
of shoes which were made November 17, 1881, seamed and 
vamped on Willcox & Gibbs' automatic machine, with No. 36 
Coates' cotton. This is a pair made in proof of the fact that 
ladies' boots seamed with a single line of stitches, and with 
no stays inside or outside to support the seam, would prove 
to be more durable than seams made in the usual manner with 
1) and E silk and well stayed. These boots were shown to a 
score or more manufacturers of flrst-class goods in Lynn and 
in Cincinnati, O. They were put to service on December 4 
and worn constantly until August 1, 1882. The bottoms wore 
through nearly to the foot. There is a hole as large as a 
flve-cent nickel worn directly across the heel seam above 
the stifiening, and in the bend of the seam in front three 
vvTinkles formed, the summit of each being worn off, and the 
thread parted. Now, the thread was worn off (especially in 
the heel seam) three months before the shoes were laid aside, 
and to-day the seams show that not a single stitch has started 
from either of the four holes or places where the stitch was 
worn in two, and the hole in the heel-seam enlarged no faster 
(it the seam than the leather wore on either side of it, the 
stitclies being solid to the very edge of the holes, 

15 



114 A FAIR CHALLENGE. 

There is probably not a single shoe manufacturer in the 
land who would not as soon expect to see a man raise him- 
self from the ground by tugging at his boot-straps as to see 
a single line of seaming stand Yike this that had been done 
with any kind of thread on a " two-thread machine." 

In a subsequent issue of the " Shoe and Leather Manufac- 
turer " Mr. " F. S." reiterated his former statements but took 
no notice of my acceptance of his challenge to make as good 
a seam with cotton on a Willcox & Gibbs machine as he could 
do with silk on a shuttle machine, whereupon I challenged 
him as follows : 

* 

He may cut a pair of side-lace or gent's congress boots, 
and close one of them on a Wheeler & Wilson No. 6 machine, 
and may use E silk for under thread and D upper, and stay 
the seam if he chooses outside or inside, having but one line 
of seaming stitches. 

I will close the other boot with a single line of seaming 
stitches on a Willcox & Gibbs machine, with cotton no lar- 
ger than No. 36, and with.no staying of either the leather or 
linings, and he may stay his linings if he chooses. After the 
shoes are finished, ready to wear, I will allow the front seam 
of my shoe to be chopped in two twice on each seam, and 
his shall be chopped in two once on each of the front and 
heel seams, and the two cuts on his seams shall be located 
the same as two of mine, and I will stake $100 that my shoe 
will rip less stitches in a given time from four cuts, than his 
will from two. This is putting the odds two to one in his 
favor. 

A fair and impartial test of this kind ought to settle this 
question of ripping by tlie breaking of a stitch in a finished 
seam, and if " F. S.'s" statements are correct, with the odds 
I have oflered of two to one in his favor, he certainly has a 
sure thing of winning a cool hundred dollars, and I trust he 
will lose no time in securing the stake. He has still greater 
assurance of winning from his discoveries of shoes ripping 



A FAIR CHALLENGE. 115 

that he says ' ' were closed with cotton on a Willcox & Gibbs 
machine," i.e. he credits his own statements in that regard. 



As to siding- a pair of cowhide boots witli No. 30 cotton 

on Willcox & Gibbs' machine, " F. S." says he thinks I "can't 

be speaking seriously." I would say in reply that I am not 

; given to making statements that are not worthy of considera- 

f tion, regarding this subject at least, and I will stake another 

.■^lOO on my ability to side up a pair of boots (tliat are not 

too heavy to be sewed with the Willcox & Gibbs machine) 

, with No. 30 cotton that shall last until the boots are worn 

; out, and that, moreover, these boots can eventually have 

new vamps put on in the usual way. These may be worn 

out also, and then all that is left of the original sewing will 

remain whole. 

Regarding these tests, I would suggest that a committee 
consisting of three prominent shoe manufacturers be chosen 
< to superintend them, and decide upon the results. " F. S." 
[ may name one, I will name one, and the two thus chosen to 
agree upon the third. I will not object on my part, to hav- 
ing every one of the committee chosen from men who are 
prejudiced against both the machine and cotton, nor will I 
object to their being men that I never saw. All I ask is that 
at least two of them shall be fair-minded men. I would be 
pleased to have two of the committee chosen from some of 
the most prominent shoe manufacturers of New York City or 
State, who neither use cotton nor the Willcox & Gibbs ma- 
chine, nor believe in them. 

I am also willing that the threads to ))e used shall be such 
as are employed by shoe manufacturers, and found on sale and 
made prior to this date, and that they be used in the ordinary 
way as found, without any special preparation for this oc- 
casion. 

The result of these experiments and deliberations to be 
published in full in the Shoe and Leather Manufacturer. 



116 AN IGNOMINIOUS RETREAT. 

Now if " F. S." will proceed to the tests with the view to 
arriving at the facts, and also to scoop in txco hundred dollars 
(which, according to his statements, he would be morally 
certain to do) , he will greatlj^ oblige 

G. W. Lasceli.. 

Mr. " F. S." replied to the above as follows : 

"As to his challenge in regard to ripping of seams, hf 
states that his shoes shall ])e cut twice in each seam, while 
mine shall be cut once in each seam ; this, he says, is putting 
the odds two to one in my favor. Perhaps it is, but I would 
remind him that by cutting his seams in two places they aie 
le><s liable to rip than if cut in one, as any one will see if he 
will reflect a moment, and, as I said before, the test on one- 
pair of shoes proves nothing. Then, again, a seam being cut 
in two places, allows it to work loosely in the cuts without 
straining the thread much, and then again I would say that I 
am not a sporting man. and am not in the habit of staking 
money on anything whatever." 

Comments on such a reply to my challenge would be super- 
fluous, and the reader can place just such value upon his pre- 
vious statements as this reply would naturally warrant. 




@y> 



CHAPTER XIII 



STAYING SEAMS. 



Apropos of the thread discussion there comes the matter 
of staying seams. 

If the question is asked, " Why do you stay your seams?" 
the answer will be, "To support and strengthen them of 
course." 

Few if any would claim that an outside leather stay adds 
that beau-ty to the shoe that the strap stitched over the 
breech piece or breast collar adds to a harness, to say noth- 
ing of the incongruity of transferring to the shoe of a lady 
the part of a horse gear that ornaments its breeching. Then, 
applying this ornament adds much to the expense of a shoe. 
Aside from the cost of the stay, it takes three times as much 
labor and thrice the quantity of thread and needles and wear 
and tear of the machines, and the question is as to the com- 
pensating feature of the matter. 

Does the stay support and strengthen the seam and render 
the shoe more durable, and if so, how, and to what extent? 
I claim that it is entirely useless, and as an ornament on a 
par with a wart. 

The superficial observer would deem it absurd to suppose 
that a strap of leather stitched over a seam did not add all of 
its strength to it. I admit all that the objector may claim 
for the leather, but that is of no consequence, since its sta- 
bility depends wholly on the stitches that hold it, and as the 
action upon the thread in the stay begins simultaneously with 
that in the seam, it follows that when the seam needs hold- 
ing the staying qualities are absent. This is, first, because 
the direction of the stitch in the stay causes more friction on 



118 WHY THE LOOP STITCH IS BEST. 

the thread than that in the seam is subjected to, the differ- 
ence being the same as that between the stitches in the in- 
seam of a shoe bottom and those in the welt, or as between 
the seam of a turn shoe and the through and through sewing 
of a McKay machine. Thus it Avill be seen that the stitches 
in the stay are subjected to greater strain and friction where 
the seam bends forward and back than in the seam where the 
stitches are bent by the same motion sideways or at right 
angles with those in the stay. Thence it is, that the stay 
stitches always fail tirst, except in cases where the seamhig 
stitches have been severed by the needle in running the stay 
stitching too close to the seam. 

Now, tliis difference is greater or less in proportion as the 
two threads of a shuttle machine are equalized as to length. 
There is not one seam in a million where the under thread is 
of the same length as the upper or needle thread, and the 
greater this disparity in length of the two, the greater the 
strain and consequent friction on the thread. I think it will 
not be disputed that as a rule the amount of thread used 
from the shuttle is not over one-fourth, or at most one-third, 
of that used from the spool, so, however desirable it may be 
to have the upper and under threads of equal length, it is 
practically impossible to maintain such a sufficient uniform- 
ity of tension on the two-thread stitching machines ordina- 
rily used to insure such a result. This is one of the reasons 
why the seaming performed by the Willcox & Gibbs auto- 
matic machine is so much superior to that done by any other. 
A second reason is that twice the bulk of thread can be 
drawn into a given sized hole. A third reason is that the 
stitch is so much more elastic, and a fourth reason is that 
the thread invariably used on that machine is cotton, which 
will endure from six to eight times more friction than either 
silk or linen, as I have shown in the preceding chapter. 
A fifth reason is that the automatic tension feature of that 
machine insures perfect "uniformity of stitching not only 
throughout the shoe, but also throughout any number of 



QUESTIONABLE STAY PROCEEDINGS. 119 

cases of shoes. But returning to the stay, we find that 
the stitching- is invariably clone on a sliuttle macliine, and, 
as I have shown, tlie life of tlie stay stitcliing is necessa- 
rily shorter than that of tlie seam, whether the latter be 
done with one machine or another; hence it follows that 
whatever the strength of the stay itself may be, it can serve 
no useful purpose in preventing the seam from ripping, as 
one or the other or both lines of stitching in the stay will 
give out first. You might as well anticipate the cracking 
of the vamp by stitching on a patch before the upper is 
lasted. 

The idea of a stay seems to be to enable the seam to with- 
stand a greater strain than it could otherwise bear, while the 
fact is, there is ten times as much holding strength in the 
unstayed seam as there is anj'^ need of. 

It will be claimed by some that an outside stay prevents 
the outside wearing on the seam. Well, so would the patch 
prevent the wearing of the vamp until it got loose ; and then 
the shoe has come to repairing, and so it has when the stays 
rip. That the protection the outside stay affords is of little 
consequence, is proved by the fact that a majority of shoes 
have the stays on the inside. I am ready to concede that a 
heeJ-seam stay averaging an inch or more in width, that would 
reach around on the side of the boot and with two or three 
rows of stitching, might remain whole long enough to serve 
as a cover to a ripped seam beneath, especially where the 
closing had been done with either linen or silk thread 07i a 
shuttle machine. Neither the heel nor front seams give out 
by reason of any lateral strain exerted in pulling the closed 
pieces asunder, on the contrary, the ripping is caused by the 
friction on the thread, caused by the bending of the seam for- 
ward and back at each step of the wearer, and hence it is 
that the seams give out first in the wrinkles formed just 
above the stifteuing on the heel seam, in the curve in front 
and at the wrinkle or joint formed at the ball of the foot. 
In the latter the leather itself cracks or wears in two from 



120 THE FOOL-KILLER ABSENT. 

the same cause, and to stay the new vamp with a patch stay 
would no more prevent the vamp from cracking than the stay 
patches over the seams would prevent the thread from wear- 
ing in two at those points of greatest friction. It must be 
patent to every one that the lateral strain is as great across 
the instep as anywhere, and also that the seam is very rarely 
seen to give out there. The reason is that at that point the 
seam is not bent like a door hinge at every step, and conse- 
quently the friction on the thread at that point is compara- 
tively slight. If a seam is closed with a thread that will pull 
ten pounds, and you put in eighteen stitches to the inch and 
the seam is ten inches long, you have a seam that will with- 
stand a lateral strain of 1,800 pounds. Now, a foot must be 
squeezed very hard to produce a strain of twenty-five pounds 
on the upper, and then you would have a surplus of 1,775 
pounds of unappropriated holding strength. You have treb- 
led the cost of the seam by adding a stay that gives a ton or 
two more of superfluous strength to help a seam to with- 
stand a lateral strain of only tiventy-Jive pounds at most. 
With all this trouble and expense, the stayed seams fail, and 
many manufacturers of first-class goods have resorted to 
double inside stays, which involved two rows of stitches on 
each side of the seam. But the seams failed even then, be- 
cause multiplying stays and rows of stay stitching does not 
prevent the seam from bending and wearing off" the thread. 

Now, if there is any way of seaming uppers so as to have 
them hold solid until the leather is worn through, it is cer- 
tainly of much importance to know it, and especially if they 
can be done at one-fourth the cost of the usual method. I 
have worn test boots for the past six years, for the purpose 
of testing the durability of cotton. My boots were cut con- 
gress and never stayed, for the reason that I did not want to 
help tlie cotton in the slightest degree, and the cotton used 
was never finer than No. 86 or coarser than No. 30. I have 
put eighteeri to twenty stitches to the inch with a No. 1 
Willcox & Gibbs needle, the seams liave been all closed with 



BETTER SEAMS AT LESS EXPENSE. 121 

the Willcox & Gibbs automatic tension machines, and I have 
yet to note the failure of a seam thus sewed. I now have 
on a pair of goat congress which were made last May. I 
wore them until December, and have had them on about two 
weeks this spring. They have worn nearly to tapping ; the 
seams to all appearance are as sound as ever and I fail to see 
how any amount of staying could have been of any service, 
for the seams can be trusted to remain whole as long as the 
leather will last. The bottoms are single soled and stitched 
on McKay machine with No. 20 sixteen cord cotton coated 
with parafflne, and although the loops have long since been 
worn off, and four inches of seams on each shoe have been 
worn down below the bottom of the channel, yet the threads 
stand like pegs, even with the surface of the soles. In 
Chapter XII, page 113, 1 mentioned a pair of ladies' kid button 
boots closed in the same manner, with No. 36 cotton and no 
staying, which were worn eight months, and not a stitch 
gave out except in places where holes were worn through the 
leather directly across the seams ; but at these places the 
stitches held solid to the very edges of the holes. These 
shoes were laid aside last August, being entirely worn out, 
and another pair substituted, which were seamed in like man- 
ner with No. 36 cotton on Willcox & Gibbs' machine with no 
stays. These were worn until the first of April, and proved 
equally durable in every respect. The bottoms of this pair 
were sewed on the McKay machine with cotton and parafflne 
wax, and they have worn entirely out without ripping. I 
have recently substituted another pair of these, to continue 
the tests. 

Now, if it is possible to seam three pairs in such a manner 
as to have the leather wear out before the seams fail (the 
leather being of quality to insure eight months' steady wear) , 
then it is possible that millions may be done in like manner 
without incurring the slightest risk of failure, and as seams 
thus made do n't exceed one-fourth the cost of those made in 
the usual way, besides being very much neater than stayed 
i6 



122 AN IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION. 

seams, this matter becomes of vast importance to botli the 
shoe manufacturer and consumer. It would indeed seem that 
all retailers, as well as manufacturers and consumers pos- 
sessing good sense and taste, would hail the day when it 
would be considered an outrage to cover a new and otherwise 
neat boot with patches. 




m 



CHAPTER XIV. 



STAYING SEAMS. 



A REPLY TO MR. LASCELL. 

" In Mr. Lascell's argument he makes a comparison of the 
seam stay to a ' strap ' applied to a harness, and saj^s : ' There 
is an incongruity in transferring to tlie shoe of a lady the 
part of a horse gear that ornaments its breeching.' Now 
this suggestion may be amusing, but as an analogy it is ex- 
ceedingly far-fetched and barren of point. If we were to 
admit its application, we would be obliged to abandon all 
uses of leather for foot-wear, and all kinds of thread that go 
into the manufacture of boots — in fact, ladies would have to 
go barefoot because horses wear shoes. 

" On this charge that the stay adds much to the cost of the 
shoe, I am willing to admit ; but I claim that the extra cost 
is more than compensated for in the extra wear that the shoe 
returns. There is no ' question ' in this matter ; tangible 
proof is at hand to substantiate my claim. So far as it may 
or may not be ornamental, is a matter of taste. But if it is 
as useless as a protector of that part of the boot to which 
it is applied, as Mr. Lascell would have your readers believe, 
he must admit that this spending of more than half a million 
annually for outside staying must be largely accounted for 
by its capacity to adorn. A majority of people patronize an 
article for a purpose, and if they are disappointed in that 
purpose, they cease to use the article. If the seam stay has 
no practical benefits as a protector, of course it is sought as 
an ornamentation, and to apply the terms ' warts ' and 
' patches ' as synonymous to delicately molded seam stays is 
merely an indication that Mr. Lascell's idea of beauty differs 
from that of most people. 

" In considering his argument from the mechanical point 
of view, I am hardly able to comprehend whether he makes 
his estimates with an eye to disparage the claims of the seam 
stay, or to enhance other interests to which the stay may 
suggest some obstruction. 

" His estimates in regard to the mechanical strength of the 



124 . A QUESTIONABLE THEORY. 



seam — so far as they may apply to stay — are evidently inci- 
dental and immature. The fact that the stay stitches ' fail 
first ' may be traced to other causes than he mentions, and if 
he wishes it to be understood that the stitching of the stay 
gives out sooner than any other part of tlie stay, I take leave 
to differ very emphatically. In any discussion of the dura- 
bility of the seam, stayed or unstayed, I base my claims on 
the familiar adage ' union is strength ;' that a bundle of sticks 
is stronger than a single piece of equal dimensions, and that 
the portion of the boot about the heel seam and above the 
stiffening would wear longer in a combination of thicknesses 
of an appropriate aggregate, than in a single thickness 
of equal aggregate, other things being equal. Here is 
where the stay begins its career and makes its first claim 
to usefulness. All breakages in this locality first appear 
upon the outer surface of the boot, and usually from causes 
that Mr. Lascell has failed to mention, viz. : friction with 
external objects ; and the fact that this breakage may first 
appear in the stay demonstrates a prominent feature of the 
legitimate purpose of the stay. Under this breakage you in- 
variably find whole stock, and the boot is prepared to con- 
tinue its service in a uniformity of wear. The heel seam 
having obtained this lease of existence — made possible by the 
stay — is now able to hold out until breakages at other points 
render the boot unavailable, while, had it not been for the 
stay, it would long ago have become unsightly and been dis- 
carded. 

"Mr. Lascell's elaborate array of figures, showing the ac- 
cumulated strength of a given number of stitches, is a sterile 
beat at the bush for an argument where no argument exists, 
so far as the seam stay is concerned, when considered in con- 
nection with a subsequent statement ; for he says : — ' I have 
worn test boots for the past six years, for the purpose of 
testing the dural)ility of cotton. My boots are cut congress 
and never stayed, for the reason that I did not want to help 
the cotton in the slightest degi-ee, an admission that I take 
leave to appropriate as a testimonial for the seam stay, as a 
resistance in some slight degree to the ' friction ' suggested 
in another portion of "his letter. 

"In conclusion, I wish to say that the application of the 
stay as a protector of the seam which it covers is no novelty 
in the theory of mechanics. It is a fundamental principle 
that finds expression in almost every branch of mechanical 
construction, and its utility cannot be thwarted by merely 
speculative conjurings. 



stayer's" final summing up. 125 



" Its application to the manufacture of boots and shoes 
entitles it to just as much consideration as when applied to 
harness, clothes, or even to methods in architecture. In the 
latter, it protects the joints ; in the harness it protects, 
strengthens and adorns the adjoining members ; in boots and 
shoes it protects, strengthens and adorns the seams. 

"■ Stayer." 




CHAPTER XV 



STAYING SEAMS. 



KEPLYING TO " STAYER." 

I WILL say that I made no allusion whatever to the ditt'er- 
enee between the wearing qualities of the stay stitching and 
the stay, and I am willing to concede that there may be a 
wide margin of difference between the two, which may go to 
the credit of either alternately, according to the quality of 
the stay or the stitching. 

I based my argument on the incontrovertible ground that the 
seam stitching is not susceptible of being injured in any degree 
as compared with through and through stitching on the stay, 
because the former bends sideivays, like the seam in a turned 
shoe bottom, Avhile the latter bends forward and back at 
right angles with the stay, like through and througli stitch- 
ing of a McKay machine. 

Now, the stay stitching is subjected to much the hardest 
strain, for two reasons : First, from the great inequality in 
the length of the upper and under threads, the point at which 
the two threads cross each other being to one side of the 
centre, thus causing still greater strain than if the upper and 
under threads were of equal length and the threads crossed 
each other in the centre of the material. Second, because 
when a strap is stitched on the surface of the leather, and 
both are bent forward and back at every step in the direction 
that the stitches go, there is a strain on the stitches in pro- 
portion to the thickness or flexibility of the upper leather 
and the stay. In the bending of two pieces of leather thus 
united, the tendency is for one piece to move upon the other ; 



WHAT THE STAYING OP A SEAM IMPLIES. 127 

one must contract, while the other expands, and vice versa. 
This is the trouble with the bottom sewing- of the McKay 
machine. The constant working of the outsole upon the 
inner sole is what strains and cuts oft' the stitches, whereas 
the seam in the bottom of a turned shoe bends sideways 
precisely like the seams in a shoe upper. The durabiity of a 
turned sole shoe seam is proverbial, and the lack of durabil- 
ity in the through and through stitch of the McKay machine 
is quite as well known. 

" Stayer" argues that union is strength, and that " a bun- 
dle of sticks is stronger than a single piece of equal dimen- 
sions." 

As to the sticks, I should say that if they were perfectly 
jointed and fitted, their strength would depend on the quality 
of the glue with which they were united, while without such 
perfect union I should prefer a single piece of equal size, but 
to argue from such premises that the portion of the boot 
about the heel seam and above the stift'ening would wear 
longer than a single thickness of " equal aggregate " is ex- 
tremelj^ fallacious. 

Yet my opponent says : ' ' Here is where the stay begins its 
career and makes its first claim of usefulness." Further on 
he says: "Mr. Lascell's elaborate array of figures, showing 
the accumulated strength of a given number of stitches, is a 
sterile beat at the bush for an argument where no argument 
exists," etc. 

Now the idea of staying a seam implies holding and 
strengthening it, and the question is as to the need of any 
auxiliary help to hold the seam from ripping. If the holding- 
strength of the thread in the closed seam is a hundred times 
more than any strain the seam can be subjected to, then it 
follows that any additional help is not only superfluous, but 
a waste of labor, stays, silk, etc. 

That the holding strength of the thread in the seam equals 
the number of pounds a thread will pull multiplied by the 
number of stitches in the seam is clear enough. 



128 A TELLING EXPERIMENT. 

lu a seven-inch heel seam closed with a thread that will 
pull ten pounds on the spool, and damaged only to the extent 
of three pounds by its passage tlirough the needle, you would 
then have seven hundred and eighty-four pounds of liolding 
strength. As the seam could not be strained in wearing to 
the extent of ten pounds, there would then be a surphis of 
seven hundred and seventy-four pounds. 

It only needs tliis illustration to show the extreme folly 
and wastefulness of stitching a strap over a seam that has 
such a surplus of holding strength before the stay is applied. 
At this point I will describe an experiment I made to test the 
truth of my statement. 

I seamed two pieces of heavy leather, which taken together 
measured three-sixteenths of an inch in tliickness. I made 
the seam two inches long with the Willcox & Gibbs machine, 
and put fourteen stitches to the inch, with a cotton thread 
six-cord No. 24. I attached a vise to one side of the seam 
a half inch from and parallel with it. I then laid two strips 
of board side by side, leaving a (juarter inch space between 
them, tln-ough which I passed the leather, until the vise 
rested on the boards. I then attached a two-inch jawed vise 
a half -inch from the seam, and parallel with it beneath the 
l)oards. I then attached a box to this vise, and loaded it 
with iron until the seam broke. The box and its contents, 
including the under vise, weighed two hundred and fourteen 
pounds. The average of four trials of the thread gave eight 
and one-half pounds, or two hundred and thirty-eight pounds 
strength to twenty-eight stitches, which parted at a strain of 
two hundred and fourteen pounds, beiYig only twenty-four 
pounds less than my theory calls for, viz. : that the strength 
of a seam is the strengtli of the thread multiplied by the 
number of stitches. 

The leather used was from a very thick neck piece of old- 
fashioned boarded brush goat. One end of the seam was 
found to have been stretched out of a line fully three-eighths 
of an inch, which would account (in part at least) for the 



A SELF EVIDENT FACT. 129 

difference of twenty-four pounds between the strength of 
seam and the aggregate pulling strength of twenty-eight 
stitches at eight and one-half pounds each, to say nothing of 
the depreciation of the thread by the using. Now, then, ac- 
cording to this test, a seam eight inches long would have an 
aggregate holding strength of eight hundred and fifty-six 
pounds, and as the seam could not be subjected to ten pounds 
strain in wearing, you then have in the heel seam alone eight 
hundred and forty-six pounds of holding strength unappro- 
priated. Yet "Stayer" says, that "Mr. Lascell's elaborate 
array of figures, showing the accumulated strength of a given 
number of stitches, is a sterile beat at the bush where no 
argument exists." Surely if no argument exists in this case, 
it is because a self-evident fact will admit of none. 

xlgain, "Stayer" says: "The charge that the stay adds 
much to the cost of the shoe I am willing to admit, but I 
claim that the extra cost is more than compensated for in the 
extra wear that the shoe returns." 




Fig. 23. 
Staying Seams. — The "Saddle" Seam. 

Let us see. In Eig. 23 of the accompanying engravings, 
we give a sectional, end view of what is termed the ''saddle 
seam," it being closed right side out to better adapt it to re- 
ceive the Sutherland patent molded stay. Now, if the seam 
was strained to any appreciable extent, the semi-circular stay 
would straighten out and thus serve no useful purpose in 
helping the seam. In the second place, the stay is exceed- 
17 



130 NEAT AND USELESS. 

ingly thin, so much so as to allow of its being folded or 
doubled so as to present a smooth and finished edge and not 
appear too clumsy. The top of the stay acting as a fender to 
" external objects," necessarily wears out very soon, leaving 
an ugly -looking seam, wliich must receive another cover, 
altliough the bare seam would wear three times as long as 
tlie stay, and serve the same purpose as a fender. 

I do not difter with " Stayer" in liis opinion tliat this stay 
wears out sooner than the stitches tliat hold it, as it will be 
seen that the summit of the stay rises so far above as to pro- 
tect them from external friction. There is also a substantial 
reason for closing seams in this way, and that is that it leaves 
the inside of the boot free from any ridge to hurt the foot. 
Such a ridge upon tlie outside could not be tolerated by the 
wearer, so it furnishes an excellent excuse for the very neat 
and delicately molded Sutherland stay to cover it, and as a 
cover it is not only indispensable, but decidedly neat. 




Sectional End View of a Closed Seam with a Flat 
Stay Outside, 

Fig. 24 represents a sectional end view of a seam closed in 
tlie regular way with the seam inside and a flat stay outside. 
Now, this is the only form of staying that can by any possi- 
bility help to hold the seam, if its help were needed. With 
the eight hundred and forty-six pounds of unappropriated 
holding strength of seam stitches, its life is far too short to 
be of any use, as the exposed stitches are soon worn olf and 
the stay let loose. But some contend that when that occurs 



A WRONG SUPPOSITION. 131 

the stay may be ripped off, and then have a good seam left to 
wear out the shoe. That would be just as true when the stay 
is omitted, for even then the seam thread is thoroughly pro- 
tected from contact with "external objects," it hemg under 
the leather, whicli must be worn entirely through before any 
wear can come upon it otlier than that caused by bending the 
seam forward and back in walJiing. 




Fig. 25. 
. A Seam with Inside Stay. 

Fig. 25 represents a seam witli an inside stay, usually of 
cloth or web, and as fully three-fourths of all shoe seams are 
stayed in this manner, it deserves more than a passing notice. 
It will be seen that the stiching draws this stay tightly over 
the seam, forming a U shaped outward curve. Now, this, like 
all other staying, is supposed to aid materially in supporting 
the seam. Now, the top of the seam at B is the fulcrum over 
which the stitching at A A is drawing, and the tighter this stay 
is stitched on, the greater the tendency to pull the seam open, 
and when from any cause the seam rips, the stay necessarily 
curves in the opposite direction, as seen in Fig. 26. Not until 
then can it possibly do any staying whatever, and then only 
in the manner here illustrated. It passes all comprehension 
that men of good sense in business matters generally, as shoe 
manufacturers are, could perpetrate and perpetuate such 
a clumsy device. Yet I have known manufacturers of first- 
class goods to resort to kid stays put on in this manner, and 



132 WHY A STAY PATENT BECAME VOID. 

some have put on two, because they found that one stay of 
either cloth or kid failed. Evidently the fool killer has over- 
looked an important field of operations. 




Fig. 26. 

Showing the Curving of a Stay after the Seam has 
BEEN Ripped. 



"Stayer" takes umbrage because I compared the outside 
leather stay to the raised strap applied to the breeching of a 
harness, and spoke of the incongruity of transferring to the 
shoe of a lady the part of a liorse gear that ornaments its 
breeching. He says on this point: "Now, this suggestion 
may be amusing, but as an analogy it is exceedingly far- 
fetched and barren of point," etc. Now, if anything was 
needed to make the analogy more complete I need only to 
mention the fact that the molded stay patent was set aside 
by the courts as void on the ground that the same had been 
previously used on harness. The raising and creasing ma- 
chines for molding harness straps that have been in use for 
the past twenty-five years, are identical with those used in 
molding and creasing the edges of the stay. 

" Stayer " further remarks, that " If the stay is as useless 
as Mr. Lascell would have your readers believe, he must 
admit that this spending of more than half a million annually 
for outside staying must be largely accounted for by its ca- 
pacity to adorn." 



ADORNING PATCHES. 133 

Well, a patch adorns a pimple or a hole in a shoe, but when 
you close the shoe seams right side out, you raise an un- 
sightly ridge that needs adornment more than either, and, so 
far as that form of seam is concerned, there is no question of 
the capacity of the molded stay to adorn it ; but when you 
close a seam in the usual way, with cotton on the automatic 
Willcox & Gibbs machine, you have a seam that no kind of 
adornment can improve, and which needs no auxiliary aid to 
strengthen. 

In 1875 I commenced to demonstrate the superior wearing 
qualities of the cotton over the silk fibre for shoe seams, as 
well as the merits of the Willcox & Gibbs machine over shut- 
tle machine stitches for producing strong and elastic seams. 
The result has been the saving of millions to shoe manufac- 
turers, and, as it is possible to save as much more by the 
abandonment of the more than useless stay, may it not be 
just possible to find in this a proper incentive for pointing- 
out the wav. 



NONDUM FINI.'i EST. 



A CARD TO MANUFACTURERS. 



Know that you get what you pay for. Buy 
your cotton threads by length, and be sure you 
get Standard Size every time. 

" Willimantic " threads are same price for all 
numbers and colors, and same length on each spool. 

Threads sold by weight are different price for 
each number. If you pay the pound price for No. 
40 — and the actual size of what you get is No. 30, 
— you lose the difference in length. 

All the Threads manufactured by this Company 
can be procured on large spools to be used in con- 
nection with the new^ device for unwinding, cut of 
w^hich is shown on the opposite page. 

The Three-Cord Soft and Silk Finish is made 
of same stock as the Six-Cord, viz., Combed Sea 
Island Cotton. 

The Intrinsic Shoe Thread is made of Combed 
Sea Island Cotton, Soft and Glace finish; wound 
on 600 yard spools. 

The Threads put up by this Company are 
Warranted Standard Size, Full Length, free from 
all Imperfections. 

All the Threads made by the Willimantic 
Linen Co. can be obtained on large spools for 
manufacturing purposes. 

Send for list price and descriptive circular. 
Boston Office, 17 Kingston St. GEO. A. TAEBELL, Agt. 




New Unwinder 

FOR WILLIMANTIC COTTON THREAD. 



Patent Applieb For. 



Machine Needles, Awls, etc. 



^SUR SPECIALTY is first-class goods in our 
line, comprising every variety of NEEDLES 
and AWLS used in Factories. 

As the Needle does all the sewing, it is impor- 
tant that it be a good one, to avoid skipping stitches 
or wearing the thread out before it is landed in the 
Sfoods, and also to avoid waste of needles, time and 
material, as well as to make handsome and durable 
seams. 

Our long experience in making Special Needles 
for fine shoe work, warrants us in saying that we can 
fully meet every requirement, and we would respe(5l- 
fuUy solicit a trial of them, as well as of our Patent 
Wax Thread and McKay Needles, which are a de- 
cided improvement over the old style round blades, 
both of which we make and sell at same price. 



Manufacturers requiring Willcox & Gibbs' 
Machines can be better served through us, as we 
thoroughly understand what is needed in the way of 
adjustments for shoe work, and the price will always 
be the same as at any of the Company's ofiices. 



WRITTEN & LASCELL, 

LYNN, NIASS. 

Telephone No. 3074. 



KING COTTON; 

OR, 

COMMON SENSE THOUGHTS 

ON THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS, VIZ.: 

COTTON VS. SILK; COTTON vs. LINEN; 
PABAFFINE vs. WAX; 

BEING A SERIES OF 

DEMONSTRATED FACTS, SHOWING HOW TO MAKE MORE 

FLEXIBLE AND DURABLE SHOE BOTTOMS BY 

MACHINE THAN BY HAND. 

ALSO, 

HOW TO MAKE MORE ELASTIC AND DURABLE SEAMS IN SHOE 

UPPERS WITHOUT STAYS THAN HAVE FORMERLY 

BEEN MADE WITH THEM. 

ILLUSTRATED. 



By G. W. LASCELL, 

lynn, mass. 



LYNN : 

PRESS OF THOS. P. NICHOLS. 

1884. 



PRICE, ONE DOL.L.AR. 




WHITTEN & LASCELL 



MANUFACTURERS OF 



MACHINE NEEDLES, 

Heeling Machine Awls, Drivers, etc. 

BUTTON-HOLE NEEDLES and NEEDLES FOR SEW- 
ING ON BUTTONS, etc. 

No. 26 STATE STREET, LYNN, MASS. 



X 838 '-< 








































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